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 Eleven

Naoki stared at the purple, flickering flame around his hand, ignoring the laughing coming from Xanxus in the background. It was night again and the older man had decided a couple of weeks before that their usual night lesson would be a little different from usual. Instead of immediately attacking him the moment Naoki had appeared in that strange dreamscape, Xanxus had remained seated on his throne-like chair and told the blond that he was going to tell him a little more about the mafia.

The youngest Sawada later found that 'little' was more than an understatement.

First he started telling him about how the Mafia world was structured and the hierarchy they followed. He learned about their own law enforcement force and by Xanxus' descriptions, Naoki knew that he would prefer never having anything to do with them. He also learned more about Vongola, more than he could have known by himself since not even Tsunayoshi knew everything yet.

Apparently the Mafia organisation was at the top of the Underworld and the current Boss was 'an old wimpy trash who was going to bring the Family to ruin'; Xanxus' words, not Naoki's. Xanxus was apparently supposed to inherit the Family but because of something, the dangerous man did not mention what but the blond felt curious nevertheless – his intuition told him that it would be better not to ask if he valued his life – he was instead the Boss of an independent assassination squad.

(Naoki stared at his companion, looked at him up and down while he took in his dangerous aura and could not help but let a small snort. Yes, he could definitely picture the man in that position.)

The fact that Tsunayoshi instead was selected as the next Boss worried Naoki. From what Xanxus told him, not only was the current Boss supposed to choose his successor but also the current Head of another independent squad/organisation (Naoki was not sure what the older man said but at that time he did not care). The fact that Iemitsu was said Head and that he had chosen to put his own son in that situation enraged him. From what Naoki could see Xanxus was much more ready to lead an f–king mafia organisation than Tsunayoshi, the wimpy, too kind-hearted teenager! His disgust towards his biological father increased as he realised that that idiot was even more involved with getting his own family in danger.

Then after the older man told him about the hierarchy of the Mafia, Naoki was told of the… power they used, otherwise known as the Dying Will Flames; it was the same flame he had seen on Tsunayoshi's forehead that one time and the one from when they had been younger, but more than that, it was a similar flame from that time.

To say Naoki was curious about those flames would be an understatement, so Xanxus explained to him about the different flames, their attributes and how to harvest them.

(He really should have known that it was a little too strange for the man to be so cooperative. At that time Naoki was too busy worrying about those flames and absorbing all those informations that seemed so far-fetched to notice the smug smirk on the bastard's face to realise that the man was plotting something.)

However, all of this had happened two weeks before and on that night Naoki had finally been able to activate his own flames. The fact that they were purple made his situation fascinating, though he still did not understand his companion's glee. This was Cloud flame, he noted, thinking back on all the information the older man had given him.

At the beginning of this new type of training, Xanxus had tried having the blond activate his flame without any conduct, since they did not have any in this realm. Because of this, Naoki's training had slowed to a stop as he tried every night, and the times he was awake and free, to activate said flames. Nothing had worked. That was, until Xanxus became impatient and physically attacked the blond.

(Naoki was surprised the dangerous man had even waited this long before trying anything.)

This time, however, there was a huge difference in their usual sparring; Xanxus actually aimed to kill and Naoki realised the huge gap in skills there was between them. It did not take long at all for the blond to feel cornered and desperate, feeling like he was facing his death all over again, and that was when the purple flame ignited.

(He learned then that that was exactly what Xanxus had been aiming for, meaning that he had not actually been aiming to kill the blond. Naoki absent-mindedly wandered what it would have been like if Xanxus had… Yeah, better not think about that.)

With Xanxus still cackling in the background, Naoki gave a sigh, the purple flame flickering out.

Naoki scowled as he stared down at his hand, his feet absent-mindedly dragging him to his house well after school had ended and his daily spar with Hibari. He had been trying to ignite the purple flame for days after it had happened in his dreamscape and he found that he could not do it again. It was bloody infuriating and Naoki felt like stomping to his dreamscape to shake that bastard Xanxus. Why was it not working!?

He was still scowling down at his hand, murmuring curses under his breath in all the different languages that he knew when someone suddenly stepped in front of him and blocked his path.

"I'm sorry but only someone of the Sawada family is allowed through," he heard above him. Already incensed by his failure and the fact that he was – ahem – frustrated since nothing like that had happened since the last time with Xanxus because of their change in training schedule, Naoki looked up, eyes pulled into an icy, blue, freezing glare. The man in front of him dressed into a black suit and sunglasses, along with different, similarly-attired men behind him, seemed to pale right in front of him as they automatically stepped back and made a path for him.

With no more obstacles in front of him, Naoki walked right up to his house and slammed the door behind him.

Outside, the Cavallone men released a sigh of relief as the scary teenager disappeared, some of them feeling like they would have soiled their clothes if the unknown blond had remained a little longer. That was one terrifying child. They did not realise that said terrifying child had entered the house they were supposed to watch.

… Naoki had spent a little too much time with the Varia Boss. It would seem like Xanxus was even starting to influence his character.

Naoki was just passing by Tsunayoshi's room, still fuming when the two youngest of the household almost ran him over, if not for his quick reflexes. Eyebrow twitching in annoyance, Naoki turned on his heels and followed the children into his twin's room, ready to give them a good lesson about manners. What he did not expect though was to find the cow child trip and two pink grenades being clumsily thrown from his hands to the window. It was then that he noticed the additional people in his brother's room, people he had never met but had a feeling was connected to the men standing outside their property. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow as the blond man who had been sitting in a large arm-chair jumped dramatically out the window… with a whip.

Reborn, who had most likely noticed him even before he had entered the room, shot him a smirk in greeting, even as Tsunayoshi, who for some reason was sitting on the floor near the door, shrieked and as two dark-suited men stared after the blond man in what Naoki could perceive as pride and admiration.

He was not close enough to the window to see what was happening outside but he did hear the explosions and Tsunayoshi as he exclaimed how 'cool' the blond was.

"Now you understand?" came Reborn's squeaky voice as they both stared out the window. "The Mafia Boss is ready to risk his own life to save his Family members." As Tsunayoshi shrieked Naoki could not help the deep scowl from forming on his face. No; Tsunayoshi was not going to risk his life for anyone if Naoki had anything to say. He would not let that happen.

With a deepening scowl, he turned on his heels and swept from the room, shooting the two children who were still there a look that made them scurry away.

Naoki had taken to rarely eating with everyone else since that time Lambo had stolen his food – childish but who cared? – so it was only the next day that he officially met Reborn's guest. It was again in the evening and he was returning to the house after school, a good spar with Hibari and spending the rest of the time trying to ignite those purple flames in vain. The previous night Xanxus had told him about those 'flame resistant' weapons that were supposed to be used to make it easier to use the flames and Naoki had half a mind to ask Reborn to get him one. How he would explain that to the baby Hitman though, he had no idea.

The sun was setting when he arrived at his house and he really felt like having a good long shower after his day. When Reborn's squeaky voice called him from Tsunayoshi's room though, it was not like he could ignore him for said shower... as tempting as it was.

When he entered the room he was somehow not surprised to see the blond man from the day before with the baby but he was surprised by the fact that his brother was apparently absent.

"Ciaossu, Nao," greeted the dangerous baby even as the blond man looked between the two of them with a bewildered look on his face. He was promptly ignored.

Naoki nodded back in greeting before he asked, "Where is Tsunayoshi?"

"Mama sent him out for groceries," Reborn chirped back. Naoki blinked.

"At this hour?" he deadpanned.

"Yes. Why? Worried?" came the smirking retort.

"No," he scoffed back and looked away. Coincidentally, his eyes fell on the other blond who was practically gawping at them. He raised a delicate eyebrow, icy blue eyes dragging his gaze up and down the stranger, taking him in and evaluating.

"This is Dino, the Boss of the Cavallone Famiglia. He was my student before I came to Japan."

Student?

Naoki stared at the other blond with new eyes, because surely if that person had been Reborn's student then he should be great now, right? Then said blond stood up with a cocky smirk, stepped forward to greet Naoki… before promptly tripping over nothing and falling on his face. Naoki stared. He turned incredulous eyes to the Hitman and raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"He is also an idiot and practically useless without his subordinates," the baby added cheerfully.

Naoki looked at the ceiling as if asking for hope. Why was Tsunayoshi surrounded by idiots?

"Trash, you're still f–king struggling with this?" a certain annoying person asked boredly and Naoki scowled. It would seem that had become his default expression these days. It could not really be helped though; there always seemed to be something that annoyed or irritated him and even sparring with Hibari hardly provided sufficient release. Having to deal with Xanxus, who was the most infuriating bastard Naoki knew, was the icing of the cake, particularly since that man just loved to mock and annoy him even more.

"It's not like you actually told me how to do it!" he snapped, not looking up from his hands, still trying to ignite them again after that one time a few days before.

"Don't tell me you're that f–king pathetic that I have to f–king spoon feed you," Xanxus drawled. It took all his self-control not to snap back at the man again; it would only be counter-productive as the two of them would just end up fighting the whole night away, and he would lose another night of training and the cycle would start all over again.

What would he give to wipe that smug smirk from that bastard's face, to fight him on equal footing and made him realise that Naoki was not one to be messed with. He was not a plaything and that bloody Xanxus was going to regret – regretregretregret!

Purple flames flashed and burst around his hands. He smirked.

A snort. "Took you long enough."

The blond twitched. That bloody infuriating bastard…

Extra

Christmas was a small affair for the Sawada Family and guests. Only their house guests and the three Sawada were present though Tsuna's friends did pop in briefly before leaving. He had been waiting for this day since his birthday, though he would prefer not to mention why (he knew Reborn knew though; since when did that Spartan tutor not know anything about Tsuna anyway?). He was embarrassed but since, well, it was for Naoki… However, he bravely swallowed his embarrassment as he sneaked downstairs in the middle of the night on the eve of the twenty-fifth of December to place his gift under the Christmas tree.

It had taken him months to think about what to get Naoki and he had saved as much as he could but he still only got a little something he thought would go well with his brother.

He did not see the amused smirk on his tutor's supposedly sleeping face.

As he reached the landing, he made his way to the living room where his mother and the children had placed and decorated the Christmas tree.

… He definitely did not expect to see Naoki entering from the opposite side of the room. They both froze, identical deer-caught-in-headlights looks of their otherwise very different features. Simultaneously, their eyes dropped to the package in each other's hands before looking back up. Almost in synch, red burst to their faces and they looked away.

Awkward silence.

There was along moment before anything happened; Naoki walked to the tree like nothing, carefully dropped his package with the other presents there before he turned on his heels and left. (Tsuna had a feeling Naoki was fleeing but, no! His brother was not one to flee.) As he was left alone in the dark, Tsuna let out an almost silent 'hiiie' in embarrassment at what had just happened before he too dropped the present under the tree and rushed back to his room.

When Tsuna ducked under his covers, face flushed, Reborn's smirk widened.

If Tsuna had a new shiny, orange headphone with a similar design as the one on his laptop and Naoki started walking around with a silver necklace with a fang-shaped amethyst dangling at the end, no one mentioned anything.

Nana only hid a fond, knowing smile behind her hand.

AN: I don't know if anyone noticed but I accidentally deleted all my stories from this site more than a week ago. Thankfully I was able to retrieve them before it was too late but still! What a scare! Now, unfortunately, I also lost all the stories and chapters I was writing and had saved in my pen-drive. I had like 50s or something and everything's lost. So my updates will be a little slow for a little while but I'll try my best. I know I'm always slow in updating my stories...

Anyway!

Some of you have been concerned with how Naoki is approaching his budding relationship with Xanxus. Well, let me explain. Naoki feels betrayed by what has happened in his previous life but he cannot help his attraction to Xanxus and his body's reaction to the man. He keeps telling himself that it's all physical so what has happened in his previous life will not happen again. He believes that so long as he is not attached there's nothing to worry about. Of course it's not going to remain like this for long (Romance is one of the important genres here after all and I write Romance).

Well, if you guys have any more queries, don't hesitate to ask!

Review and leave behind your thoughts and opinions.

Leight