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

EXCEPTIONAL WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER: SOME MATURE CONTENT AHEAD

Chapter Twelve

Naoki gasped, his back arching slightly as the fingers inside him wiggled and brushed against something that made pleasure shoot up his spine. He groaned, digging his fingers in his companion's back. He felt the arm around his waist tighten minutely even as he collapsed against the broad chest in front of him.

It was like a switch had been flipped. No sooner had Naoki been able to voluntarily summon his flames than Xanxus had been all other him, and instead of their nightly sparring, they engaged in some… other kind of fighting. Not that Naoki was complaining. All of this was new to him and he was still getting used to do this with his current body – yes, all of this happened in his dreams but since everything that happened to him seemed to carry over to his physical body, it was like he was actually physically participating anyway.

It was all strange and weird but as he was beginning to realise and learn, definitely in a good way. Yes, everything was different, even though there might be some things that were still the same from when he had been female, but the point was, he was more than a willing participant in their nightly activities.

They never actually went all the way since, psychologically speaking, Naoki was still adapting, but that did not mean they did not have their fun.

As Xanxus' face neared his Naoki tilted his head away. The older man barely paused before latching onto his neck. He shuddered, eyes closing as teeth nibbled at his sensitive skin. This was definitely going to leave a mark. Hopefully, Reborn would not see anything.

Gosh, he felt like a teenaged girl having a tryst with her boyfriend and fearing her father finding out.

…That was more than creepy. And embarrassing.

Life became a routine all over again but not exactly boring. How could one be bored with someone like Xanxus in their life?

And then it happened and everything came crashing down.

As Naoki rounded the corner, a small body collided with him with a small 'oomph'. He took a small step back, arm automatically latching on a much smaller arm to prevent the small body from falling backwards. It was Fuuta, the newest addition to the household and as the boy realised what had happened, he looked up at Naoki with big doe-like eyes and slight red cheeks.

"Sorry, Naoki-nii," he said. Naoki only nodded, patted the boy on the head lightly and continued on his way.

To be frank, among all the children Tsunayoshi and their mother had taken in, the blond definitely preferred little Fuuta. He was quiet and polite, and criminally all snuggly and adorable. When faced with the child, Naoki could not help but uncharacteristically wish to bundle him up in cotton and lock him in a tower somewhere. Which was strange since Naoki did not particularly like children or people in general.

What he hated though, was the knowing, amused smirk Reborn had on his face every time Naoki and Fuuta found themselves in the same room, so the blond just kept his distance. However, he was much nicer to the kid than he had ever been to anyone in this new life.

Tightening the laces of his sneakers, he finally left the house and made his way to the busier part of the town for the bookstore; the book he had ordered a month before was finally there and he could not wait to incorporate his new ideas into his fighting style. Who knew Naoki would have started to like those wimpy senbons Hibari had showed him?

Those senbons were his style, as he had come to realise a good while after he had started to use them in their sparring sessions. They were discrete and could be hidden in bulk on his person. Unfortunately they could not deal a lot of damage and if they did they had to be particularly precisely used. That was why Naoki was going to see if he could add a little upgrade to those senbons.

He had gotten the idea from watching Bianchi; the idea of adding poisons to his senbons was quite appealing. That was why he had ordered a book on complex chemical and how to break them. Even the thought of making his own poisons made him excited and he could not wait. He needed knowledge before starting anything though; it would not do for him to poison himself before he really even started. Having a lot of money on the side was quite advantageous and Naoki was considering making his own since if he continued to go the way he was going his reserves would dry up fast.

For now though, poisons! And antidotes just in case…

He crossed the street and turned around a corner, continuing on his way to the bookstore. Lost in thought, he did not see the person coming the opposite way until they both crashed into each other. Naoki inwardly cursed; he had been a little too absent-minded on that day. First, Futa and now some stranger.

"Sorry," he said quietly, not looking up as stood back up from where he had fallen after having collided with the stranger.

"Kufufu, it is quite alright," a silky voice replied in front of him. Startled, Naoki took a small step backwards as his head shot up. That familiar laugh…

As his eyes locked onto heterochromatic eyes, eyes that held a very familiar look, a name fell from his lips.

When those same eyes flashed with confusion before realisation and surprise, Naoki was too stunned to react as his vision blacked out.

"So?" a smiling blond-haired girl asked, dark blue eyes glinting in mischief.

"So what?" an almost identical girl, except for the darker shade of blond hair, asked.

The other rolled her eyes, jumping on the couch beside her sister to lie on her stomach. Propping her head up to stare at her sister, she grinned. The other girl ignored her and flipped a page of her book.

"Honesty!" the girl whined.

"Orchid!" the other girl mock-whined, eyes not leaving her book. A groan left Orchid, even as Honesty's lips twitched in a suppressed smile. Then a giggle left Honesty's mouth. She closed her book, giving up on the pretence, and turned to her sister. "You want to know how our date went?" she grinned, her eyes sparkling with happiness and cheer.

"Yes!" the other squealed, bouncing on the couch to settle on her knees in front of her sister. "You've been talking about him for so long that I want to know if he's good for you or not! What kind of sister would I be, really?"

Honesty rolled her eyes, a laugh bubbling up her throat. "You just want some juicy gossip."

Orchid shrugged her shoulders, a cheeky smile pulling at her lips. "Well, that too."

Honesty laughed again before she said, "Well, after he picked me up we went to the café where – "

The scene wavered briefly before disappearing completely. Naoki, who had been staring at the familiar, nostalgic scene, frozen in place, suddenly found himself standing in a deserted, lone field of dirty, dried grass. He shuddered, wrapping his arms around him while his heart battled with conflicting emotions.

"So it really is you after all," a voice murmured behind him, an unreadable emotion bleeding through each word. Naoki whirled around, legs automatically bending slightly even as his arms spread defensively. Then his eyes caught sight of the person in front of him and he stiffened, his wild eyes widening in disbelief and shock.

"Y-You…" left his mouth, first in disbelief, then, "you!" in anger. "You bloody bastard!" he shrieked as he lunged himself at the person in front of him. If his words rang with anguish, Naoki would prefer to ignore it. Before he could reach the other, vines shot out of the ground and wrapped around his body, restraining him, his fingers stopping mere inches from the other's unreadable face.

"Honesty – " he started before Naoki cut him off.

"Don't you dare 'Honesty' me, you filth! It's all your fault! All your – aaargh!" he screamed, body thrashing as he tried to break free from his restraints, if only to wrap his fingers around that annoying neck.

"Will you at least listen to me?" the other's eyes flashed dangerously but he miraculously only pursed his lips in supressed irritation and frustration. "Just let me explain –"

"Explain what!?" Naoki snarled, lips pulling into a feral sneer. "That you could not keep it in your pants so much so that it ended with me getting murdered by my own sister!? I trusted you, you bastard! I trusted you!"

"Will you just listen to me!?"

"I don't want to hear anything from you! Now let me go!"

There was a momentary pause before heterochromatic eyes turned cold and expressionless. "Then I suppose I will just have to keep you here until you listen to what I have to say." With that the other disappeared in flickering indigo flames that Naoki vaguely registered as being mist flames from Xanxus' descriptions, leaving the blond to stew in seething anger and surprise. He did not even seem to register when the vines around him fell away.

In the silence, he let out a long, drawn-out frustrated and angered shriek.

It was only his worry that prevented the fear and hysteria from bubbling to the surface. As a matter of fact, apart from the worry, he found himself strangely calm and composed, even as his friends came back to him to inform him that no, they had not found his brother yet. Reborn's constant shadow and weight on his shoulder was comforting, even as he wondered how he was going to explain to his mother about Naoki's disappearance. Well, he could lie, like he lied about the Mafia but he could not help but feel that this was also Mafia related. And he could not help but blame himself. After all, he was the one who had put his brother in this situation by being involved in the Mafia in the first place. Besides, if he had taken Reborn's training more seriously from the beginning he might have been able to prevent this situation.

It was a few days after Naoki's disappearance and still nothing from him. At first they had not been particularly worried since Naoki always came and left as he saw fit, sometimes even in the middle of the night. But when it was reported that some Namimori Middle students were being attacked, it was understandable that Tsuna would find himself slightly worried. He had even gone to see Hibari to wonder about his brother's whereabouts.

The prefect had seemed busy and even more murderous than usual, most likely because the peace of Namimori was being disturbed, but he still begrudgingly informed Tsuna that he had not seen the blond in two days.

Tsuna had a feeling that Naoki's disappearance was related to those assault cases and when he had mentioned this to Reborn, the baby had thankfully taken him seriously. However, unlike the other cases where the assaulted victims were found beaten and with their teeth extracted, Naoki was nowhere to be found.

The victims had all been prefects at the beginning, with the exception of Naoki. Tsuna at first thought that maybe someone just wanted some revenge on Hibari. It was likely, even if he had a feeling that this was not the case. And then again, Fuuta was also nowhere to be seen. Then Sasagawa Ryouhei was attacked and Hibari left and did not come back.

'What should I do…?' Tsuna asked himself, fingers fisting his hair tightly, head tilted towards his bent knees.

Not far, Reborn stared at his student and pursed his lips, inexplicable irritation and anxiety tightening in is chest.

…His phone rang.

He did not know for how long he stayed in that field. Hours? Days? It did not matter as Naoki was not going to move. He refused to listen to that – that person. He did not care about what the other wanted to say or even how it was possible for the other to be there in the first place. All he cared about was the fact that the other was the reason he was in this situation in the first place. His feelings of hurt, betrayal and anger that he had been able to bury had resurfaced and he could not help but seethe.

Those he had come to care about – Tsunayoshi, Nana, Reborn, Fuuta, heck even Hibari and Xanxus – did not matter anymore as he spent his time pacing along the dead field, feeling frustrated and angry but with no outlet for these negative emotions. After a while though, he could do nothing but wait and his pulsating emotions became subdued. Oh, they were still there, just waiting under the surface, but he was no longer letting them control him; he was no longer blind and irrational.

So he sat down and thought about his situation. He had been kidnapped by him. He did not know here he was but this place that had not changed in the slightest since his arrival was most likely an illusion or even a dreamscape like the one he often found himself in when he met up with Xanxus. In other words, he had no idea where his physical body was. He had no contact with the outside world so he either had to wait for help to come or he was to find his own way out. He was not too keen on the previous option; he was not some damsel in distress who needed to be rescued! The second option, however, was a little tricky.

The question was, how was he going to make his way out?

From what he was able to theorise, he controlled mist flames which dealt a lot with illusions and the mind. In other words, Naoki's only way out was most likely through him.

He was there, somehow. He had no idea if he ended there in the same way Naoki had found himself being reborn. Naoki did not know the technicalities but maybe he could use their history together to get out of there. He was not one to be imprisoned and besides, did he not say that he wanted to explain himself? Maybe he should listen to him. If only so he could leave and never have to see him again.

Thus, when the heterochromatic eyed male appeared again, Naoki waited for the other to explain himself.

"Mukuro."

AN: I had a little trouble in trying to convey what I wanted to say. So, please, do leave behind a review and tell me what you think. I don't think anyone saw this coming. Well, hopefully at least; I love surprising my readers. After all, what's originality without some surprise?

Leight