Title: The Anomaly
Genre: Romance, Angst
Pairing: Xanxus X OMC
Summary: When two angry souls find each other and one is a girl from another world who is murdered and finds herself being reborn in a world where it is normal for people to catch fire. Literally. Did I mention that said girl is now a boy?
Warning: OC (not self-insert), Slash, Yaoi, BoyXboy, Reincarnation, Language

Chapter Seven

If there was one thing Naoki had been dreading to occur since the moment he had realized that he had been reborn in the opposite gender, it was definitely puberty. The first time around had already been difficult enough and now he had to go through it again but as a boy! The good side was that he was not going to have to go through his menstrual cycle anymore; no more period pain, no more dizziness, no more fear of dirtying his clothes. However, he would have much preferred all this compared to…

When he woke up on one of the rare mornings he had not encountered Xanxus during the night with the one organ he had tried to ignore since he had been born almost fourteen years ago hard and with a wet patch in the front of his pajama trousers, he had to clasp a hand over his mouth to muffle the sudden shriek bursting from his lips. That… was not what he was expecting to see the moment he woke up. He felt surprised and mortified, but above all horrified and apprehensive.

At first he did not know how to react. He stayed for the next ten minutes wondering, if he ignored his little problem, would it go away? Maybe it would disappear like it had never happened in the first place. But after ten minutes of nothing happening, with him wriggling around, his lower half aching a little, Naoki resigned himself to actually having to deal with it.

So, before he could think twice about it, he bolted from his bed and room, and locked himself in the bathroom. As he looked around the tiled room that suddenly seemed so foreign to him, he wondered what he was to do now.

He had a feeling Reborn would know what to do but he was really not in the mood to face the baby's amused face. He could not ask Tsunayoshi, which would be just plain awkward and his mother even more.

Were cold showers not supposed to do something? He silently asked himself as he eyed the shower head not far from him. He might have come across something like that somewhere in another life. Well, what could he lose? With a sigh, he stripped and hopped into the shower, hoping that it would work. As the cold water cascaded down his body, he hissed and trembled slightly but could not help the relieved sigh from escaping his lips when everything went back to normal.

Naoki rested his forehead against the cold tiled wall, turning the tap for the hot water, and closed his eyes.

He had known and accepted long before that he was now a boy but having this cold fact slap him in the face was something else, the fact that his past was not just a bad dream, that his sister really had betrayed him so cruelly, that his lover whom he had loved and would have done anything for had cheated on him so carelessly, that his life had been robed from him…

A silent sob left his lips before he drew in a shuddering breath. He should not drown in his self-pity again. The first time was bad enough, and besides he was just starting to learn how to live again. Sliding down to sit on the wet tiled floor, he thought about his new problem instead of losing himself in the memories of the past.

When he had first realized that he had been reborn as the opposite gender, Naoki had resigned himself to remaining a virgin all his life. Having a relationship with a girl seemed so wrong in so many ways when he thought about it. He did not think that he would ever be able to find a woman attractive, having been a woman himself once upon a time. However, a relationship with a man was even stranger. It was not really a sacrifice anyway; the thought of being in a relationship again left a bad taste in his mouth. He was reminded of his previous life and his previous lover; he did not think that he would be able to let something like this happen. Not again.

Apparently his body did not share his thoughts. Naoki might have been determined not to have any relationship again but his body was naturally… uh, interested.

Turning off the tap, Naoki dried himself and went back to his room. Luckily, it was a Sunday, so he could laze about in his bed for as long as he wanted. For a few hours, he read a book, trying to get his mind from his newly arisen little problem. However, at two in the afternoon, he could no longer ignore his grumbling stomach and so treaded downstairs to cook up something if his mother did not already have something ready.

Sawada Tsunayoshi was not having a good day. Like every day since Reborn had started living with him, he was woken up at the crack of dawn through some crazy means. On that day it was by the one ton hammer dropping on his stomach. After breakfast, during which he tried to keep his food away from both Lambo and Reborn, and failing miserably, he found himself in his room, having another crazy lesson about the mafia. It was tiring and painful, particularly when he got something wrong and he got punished.

Finally lunch came and afterwards he was given a couple of hours to complete his homework while Reborn went to sunbath in the backyard with Bianchi. He wanted to quickly finish his homework but knowing Reborn he would get punished if he had an answer wrong and Tsuna really did not appreciate the baby Hitman's idea of a punishment.

It was around two when he was finally done and Tsuna went downstairs to let his tutor know since knowing Reborn, the baby Hitman would hit him if he found him lazing about, particularly if he thought that Tsuna was slacking off. He had to learn this cold fact the hard way, after all.

As expected, he found the baby hitman sunbathing in the backyard, Bianchi beside him in a skimpy bikini that made Tsuna flush in embarrassment. How people could not feel self-conscious dressing up like that, he had no idea. He was the one feeling embarrassed here!

"What is it, Dame-Tsuna?" a squeaky voice made him jump and shriek, only to realized that it came from his small-sized tutor who had just appeared in front of him. It was just freaky how the baby could move so quickly and quietly, but he guessed it went along well with the whole 'Number One Hitman in the World' thing. "Well? You better not be slacking off, Dame-Tsuna."

Said 'Dame-Tsuna' squeaked and backed off a few steps when he saw the particularly familiar glint in his tutor's charcoal eyes. "NO!" he exclaimed, bringing up his arms defensively. "I'm done! I'm done!"

"Oh?" Reborn raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. Tsuna did not fault him, really, since it had taken him only half the time given to him by his tutor – that is, an hour instead of two – to complete his homework. Maybe Reborn's tutoring was finally paying off, who knew? "Let's see then." Reborn turned on his heels and walked back to the house. Tsuna released a relieved sigh; at least the baby had not gotten his Leon-gun out. He turned and followed behind his tutor, a careful distance away. "You better have everything right, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn shot behind him, making the young boy shiver in fear. Maybe he should have rechecked his answers before going to get the Hitman?

As they were making their way to the staircase, Lambo suddenly popped out from around the corner, singing obnoxiously.

'Oh, no,' Tsuna thought, knowing that things were definitely going to go down quickly. And he was right. No sooner had the cow child seen Tsuna's tutor than he laughed arrogantly and dug through his large afro, taking two pink grenades out. Tsuna absently wondered if he cleaned it at all, what with all the different things he stored up in there.

"Die, Reborn!" Lambo cried as he dashed towards the too-calm hitman.

"Wait! Lambo!" Tsuna shrieked as he tried unsuccessfully to stop the child from wrecking any more havoc than he already did every day.

Then everything happened so suddenly that Tsuna remained stunned for a few seconds. As Reborn reacted as Tsuna had expected, kicking Lambo away harshly, a particularly familiar bazooka slipped from the cow child's afro. It would not have been much of a problem, if it was not for the fact that at the same time Naoki, his brother, walked out of the kitchen, seemingly deep in thought. Before anyone could react, Tsuna watched in slow motion how his brother looked up at the shadow descending on him, before the bazooka slipped right over him and engulfed his lithe body. There was a 'boom' and pink smoke burst through the corridor.

"Hiiiiie!" Tsuna shrieked. "Na-Naoki!?" While he was panicking, he could not help the slight curiosity from appearing. Was an older Naoki going to appear? How was his brother ten years in the future? Had he changed? Had Tsuna finally been able to make his brother… like him?

Beside him, Reborn turned equally curious eyes towards the pink smoke that was starting to dissipate. As it finally started to thin, they could make out the silhouette of a lithe figure standing in the middle of the corridor. And then they stared, because standing in front of them was definitely Naoki, except older.

As ten years later Naoki observed his surroundings, they too observed him. He was taller than his younger self but had otherwise not changed much in the next decade. His blond hair was the same length it had always been, and his face had become narrower, having lost the little baby fat that had remained during his early teen years. His blue eyes seemed to be also narrower; he had never had Tsuna's innocent wide eyes but he had also never seemed so serious and… mature.

He was dressed in simple black slacks and a long-sleeved white shirt which was open at the center showing off his lithe muscled torso and… Were those –!?

"Hiiie!" Tsuna shrieked again, but this time in realization and embarrassment. Yep, those were definitely hickeys. All over his brother's chest. There were some things Tsuna really did not need to know. Beside him, Reborn smirked, highly amused.

At Tsuna's familiar shriek, sharp blue eyes snapped to the two figures, observing them, before turning to the small forgotten figure that seemed to be trying to sneak away. With a couple of strides, long legs carried TYL Naoki towards a certain cow child. Tsuna absently noticed that his brother was bare-footed. Before he knew what was happening, Naoki slammed his foot over Lambo who wailed.

"W-Wait! What are you doing!?" Tsuna stumbled over to the two, flailing his arms around. Naoki shot him a glance before frowning doing at the cow child he was crushing under his foot.

"Cow," a dark voice came from the blond. It was not as deep as most older men, though not as pitched as the women, but his voice was soft as it almost caressed their ears. However, the dark intent in what could have been a pleasant voice made Tsuna shiver in fear. "What did I say about the bazooka?" he asked and Lambo wailed even more. Getting no reply from the cow child, Naoki clicked his tongue in annoyance and kicked him away. Tsuna winced as Lambo crashed hard against the opposite wall and promptly lost consciousness.

"You grew up well in ten years," Reborn suddenly commented as Naoki turned around.

'Of course you would think that!' Tsuna mentally cried in despair.

"Reborn," Naoki nodded at him in greeting and said Hitman smirked. Then the blond tilted his head in contemplation and added, "Can you tell my younger self what happened? In a few hours though; he is most likely going to return traumatized."

"Oh?" Reborn raised an eyebrow at the blond then looked pointedly at one of the visible love bites on his chest. Naoki looked down at it before giving a smirk at the Hitman who returned it with one of his owns. Tsuna on the other hand was mentally terrified by how well those two not only got along but also seemed to understand each other with silent gestures.

'Please, don't make Naoki into another Reborn!' he mentally pleaded with an unknown deity.

"Tsunayoshi," he suddenly heard and he jumped with a slight stuttering 'hai!' He shrank in on himself as he found himself on the receiving end of his brother's older self's piercing eyes. Naoki regarded him silently for a moment before he finally said what was on his mind, "Stop complaining like a wimp and do as Reborn says; he knows best."

Taken aback, Tsuna blinked as a questioning 'eh' escaped his mouth. He did not notice the look his tutor shot his brother, so preoccupied was he by his confusion. Did Naoki in the future even know about the Mafia? What did he mean by that? Why was he telling him this anyway? Did he really hate Tsuna so much that he wanted him to go along with Reborn's torture? All this time, had he really considered Tsuna to be… a 'wimp'?

Though, before he could actually voice any of his questions, Adult Naoki poofed away in pink smoke and was replaced by the brother he was most familiar with. However, Naoki appeared with the most peculiar expression he had ever seen on his face. His usually neat blond hair was a little messed up, his lips seemed to be a little swollen and glistening and he seemed flushed.

As Tsuna opened his mouth to hesitantly ask his brother if he was alright, Naoki's face suddenly went redder as he turned on his feet, and ran upstairs, stumbling on his way.

"Well, that was interesting," Reborn commented beside him.

Tsuna frowned and thought back to what had just happened. He realized that this was the first time in forever Naoki had actually acknowledged him. And what he had said… maybe… Maybe Tsuna could just give more efforts in what Reborn was trying to teach him. He might not want to be a Mafia Boss but Reborn did tell him that if he refused then Naoki would be the next option. He did not exactly want his brother involved with the Mafia. The two of them might not have the best relationship, if what they had could even be called one, but Tsuna did love his brother.

For as long as he could remember he had always wanted for Naoki to acknowledge him but his brother more than anyone else had always seemed to dislike him. Tsuna had never known why and he had always been too intimidated by Naoki to actually ask. Tsuna, more than anyone, had always known that his brother was different. Not only was he everything Tsuna wanted to be – he was always cool and collected, intelligent, and quite beautiful – but there was just something… something from his brother that just called to him. Tsuna wanted to impress him; he wanted to protect him, but he never could act on those feelings. He was too… wimpy.

Upstairs, Naoki buried himself under his covers, wishing for the world to fade away. He had another little… problem but it was understandable. However, he could not help but feel even more mortified than this morning, though, this time he was also even more horrified and confused.

Authors' Note: Okay, so I have taken my decision on where I want this story to go. Thank you everyone for your opinions; I can guarantee that I have taken each and every one into consideration. However, I can already tell you that some will be pleased and some not so much. Unfortunately I can't make everyone happy, and what I have chosen is my initial idea on this story anyway.

As you may have realized, or maybe not, I have changed the rating to M. All I can say is, please, no flaming, though constructive criticism is most welcomed. I have never, ever, written mature content before. Under-aged readers, skip the mature parts when they come forth if you are determined to read this story. Not that I believe any of you would actually listen to me, but I'm still giving a warning in any case.

I've been wishing to write this scene since I've started to write this story. So I'm quite pleased it's done. The next chapter will be about what had happened in the future with Naoki.

Well, reviews are quite welcomed. Do tell me your thoughts and opinions.

Leight