A/N: I tried. And failed. Sorry in advance to 10027 fans. I butchered your pairing. But I tried to plow through in the best way I could think of. WHY IS BYAKURAN SO HARD TO WRITE ALL OF A SUDDEN. Jeez. And this is pretty short. I apologize.

Disclaimer: Akira Amano = KHR owner, not me.

Chapter 3

"We're home!" Tsuna called out of habit. He pulled off his shoes, waiting patiently for Xanxus to do the same so they could walk to the kitchen together. Without much prompting the Doberman dropped the bags as soon as he got through the door and, without a word, sped into the guest bedroom in a way that could almost be described as flustered. "X-Xanxus, d-don't you want dinner?" he called out nervously, wanting to follow but somewhat terrified of what the other would do if he was annoyed.

"Not hungry. Don't you dare fucking wake me up," he said threateningly, before disappearing behind the door. S-scary… But then again, Tsuna had supposed he shouldn't be so surprised if he could take on from past experiences with these guys. The Doberman had always loved his naps and loved taking them whenever it seemed to be most inconvenient for the poor owner.

Walking in, he found that his apartment was strangely quiet. "Guys? Where are you?" he called, wandering into the living room to fall upon an odd little scene. It seemed their stamina had dropped with them becoming human, as the guys weren't running about and…well…generally making a mess.

They were all asleep, no doubt tuckered out from whatever playing — or more like fighting now that Tsuna thought about it — during most of the day. It was almost 5:00 and getting dark…Ryohei distracting took way too long. He told himself no matter how awkward, he wouldn't do it again. The poor guys at home were all alone after all.

He sighed smiling at the adorable scene they made, all sleeping together like that. Gokudera had fallen asleep curled up on his desk, Tsuna's textbooks set in a neat stack while one in particular — his history book — was open underneath the sleeping Kai Ken and serving as a pillow. Yamamoto was sprawled on the couch, a tennis ball held tightly to his chest and his tie was left on the ground. His ears occasionally twitching as he snored quietly. Enma was curled up on the floor, clinging to one of the sofa cushions and ears flattened against his head, nearly disappearing in messy red hair. Mukuro was sitting at the chair next to the sofa, leaning against his hand, his head wobbling ever so precariously, with his patchwork ears fluttering up ever so often when Tsuna came close. Hibari and Byakuran were nowhere to be seen, but he supposed they would come back at one point. So quietly, Tsuna went into his own room and pulled out a few spare blankets to cover his sleeping friends and set to work.

He felt guilty, leaving them all alone for so long. So he stood up and pulled in the groceries and sifted through the old recipe book his mother gave to him so very long ago. Italian, Japanese…a few originals he and his mother made together during…better times. He tilted his head, lazily flicking through a few and settling on a few vegetarian dishes for the sake of the rabbits, who he assumed may still be herbivores. Seven men. God how was he going to do this?

Only Tsuna would have such rotten luck. "I wonder if I should have bought that good luck charm yesterday after all…" he sighed, remembering the old woman he had passed with the suspicious looking tarot cards. She was a little odd and seemed homeless, so the boy offered a few coins and to take her out to lunch. She graciously refused and offered to read him his fortune and to sell a good luck charm (super cheap!) — as she said his life would soon be filled with much strife.

He hadn't believed her at the moment, thought little of it and simply assumed the woman wanted to reel him in as a regular fortune telling customer like so many other idiots she roped in to the deal.

Tsuna was pretty sure at least that type of naivety was beat out of him quite a while ago. Fortune telling…horoscopes, good luck charms, the magic of such things tended to wear off when you're old. But it seemed the woman was right. Seven men in his apartment. "What am I going to do with you guys?" he sighed before nearly screaming when he felt an arm wrap around his waist.

"Give us hugs?" Byakuran said, smushing his face into the other's hair. "So soft…like a birdie!" he practically squealed, holding the flustered brunet even tighter to his chest.

"B-Byakuran!" he yelped, before quickly lowering his voice again upon hearing the pets shift. Peeking through the living room door, Tsuna saw Mukuro stir a bit and Yamamoto sneeze. "Byakuran, don't scare me like that!" he whispered. "Everyone's still sleeping," and he gesturing the to the numerous sleepers in the room.

As if just realizing they were there, the angora opened his mouth in a perfect 'o', "You're absolutely right, Tsu-chan!" he said, putting a finger over the young owner's lips as if he had been the one making the commotion.

Prying away the offending finger, Tsuna went back to cooking — or more like staring at the pot and hoping that the pasta would cook faster. Byakuran was friendly enough, but there was just something — off about the other that he couldn't quite put his finger on… "U-um, so uh…how was your day?" he asked lamely, feeling keenly the odd silence that settled between them.

The rabbit man swung around, jumping up to sit on the counter and twirling a bag of marshmallows in his hands. "It's going wonderfully now that you're here," he said, humming an odd tune as he pulled out one fluffy treat and proceeded to flip it around his hand. Tsuna blushed a bit, but it died down quickly enough. Byakuran had been a rabbit after all, of course he would be happy his food bringer had arrived.

"U-um, we're uh…I'm cooking right now. So um…is there anything you want to request?" he asked. A part of him regretted asking after seeing the eerie glint in the other's face.

He tilted his head, those puffy white ears twitching in thought, "Marshmallows." Tsuna released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. Something about the look on his face…or maybe that was just him being dirty. Ugh.

He pushed away the marshmallow bag being waved in front of his face. "You..you can't have marshmallows for dinner," he said firmly, turning back to the stove. He had tensed and prepared for himself for an ensuing argument against such but he was surprised when he heard the rabbit simply threw away the marshmallows. As in literally dump the whole bag into the trash. "E-eh? Byakuran why-?"

"It tasted bad anyways. So what's for dinner, Tsu-chan, if it isn't marshmallows?" he asked, wrapping an arm around the young brunet again and turning them both away from the subject and to the food cooking on the stove. "Eh? What's this?"

"Please don't touch that—It's-! O-oi, it's hot don't touch — I mean it!" he snapped, swatting the angora's touchy, touchy hands away from the pork cutlets he had made.

"Eh, but Tsu-chan, why did you make the meat stuffs for dinner?" the man complained, hovering over him again. God, was the man a leech of some kind? The rabbit just wouldn't stop clinging onto him, always having to touch him in one way or another. He had always assumed the angora had not been one of the touchy types by the way he seemed to shy away from others and never bothered to jump to him when he wanted to pet him. God, was Tsuna so, so wrong.

Still trying to pry the hand that was clamped on his hip, he protested, "W-well, the others — aside from Mukuro — eat meat right? So…um…yeah, I'm preparing it for them. I have pasta for you guys," he elaborated, pointing to the pot.

"Italian?" the man said suddenly, then deciding that it would be fun to completely lean onto the slim brunet's frame. "I thought Tsu-chan disliked Italian things."

"E-eh? Wh-where did you get that idea?" It's not like he ever said such a thing out loud at home. W-wait a second…but what about all the stuff he did at home? Oh god he took baths with these guys… granted they were pets at the time but if they remembered it-! His face flushed into a deep red and Byakuran's cheshire cat grin (funny how a rabbit looks more like a cat when he smiles) grew wide.

"Ara? You look like a cute little strawberry, Tsu-chan~! I could just eat you right up!" And he leaned in and rubbed their noses together, squealing as a schoolgirl might upon finding a rather cute animal of some shape or form on her way home. That…that was a disturbing image — Byakuran actually pretending to be a schoolgirl. Ignoring the slowly increasing 'hieee' and the tiny fists delicately pounding his chest, Byakuran explained, "Silly Tsu-chan you have an Italian cookbook under your bed. You never use it and it's so…dusty~. It's quite comfortable to nap on actually."

Oh yeah, he did get that as a present a very long time ago when he told his mother he liked her cooking. She passed that onto him. Who she had gotten as a gift once from Papa after one of his…enterprises. It was a present of mixed blessings. And now that Mama was gone, he found no reason to keep it around in plain sight. "It was pretty fun to chew up too, if you don't mind me doing so." Hell, Byakuran didn't even sound like he would be sorry if Tsuna did, in fact, mind.

"I just…Y-you guys just kind of remind of some…uh…people I used to know. I…I was going to make something else but it just ended up becoming this and I had to go through with it," he said, the nostalgic smile on his face growing rather tight.

The hold around his waist tightened and another hand poked his cheek playfully, "Don't make that kind of face, you'll get wrinkles all over," he said. "Ne, let's make a cake Tsu-chan!"

"E-eh? Why? I haven't even finished dinner yet!" But the angora persisted.

"But all you're doing is staring at the pot, so let's make a cake!" he said, giving him the puppy eyes. It probably would have worked if Tsuna had been unused to them. Besides, no one and he repeats, no one could ever beat his older brother at that face. If he could resist Giotto then he could resist this hands down.

"Please?" He was not going to give in. Nope. Cake? Now? Ridiculous. Absolutely not. Byakuran was tugging insistently, still staring at him and whining. "Pretty, pretty please Tsu-chan?" Why did he want one so badly anyway? Couldn't it wait? Ugh. He was not giving in. He was not going to be the pushover this time!

"…Fine." Damn that face. And okay, so he rejected his elder brother around…2% of the time b-but that still counted for something! Right? …Ugh, never mind. He had tried. He really did. But let's just say that Tsuna, while he can have his stubborn moments, for the most part is a mushy, pushover of a piece of tuna. Sounds accurate.

"Yay~!" Byakuran cheered, immediately pulling open the fridge and pulling out bake mix and marshmallows (why is he not surprised?), and assorted icings and whipped cream. Why does it feel like he fell into a trap of some kind? "I'll cut the strawberries, Tuna-chan~!"

"Um…o-okay…?" He was lost. Utterly and entirely lost as to how this was going to go. But he supposed the rabbit's words did have some truth in them and he did have to wait for quite a bit to get the food exactly right. What's a little multi-tasking going to do to him?

He should really stop asking questions like that.

As Tsuna mixed the batter, the brunet literally had to run about between a hot stove and a probably-borderline-psychotic angora that seemed to think that cutting strawberries was to gnash them up and slice them in such a way that it felt as if he were torturing someone. The eerie smile and little giggles did — by no means — diminish this fact. Who knew that rabbits could be so…sadistic? Oh and manipulative. And cunning. Oh so very cunning. But then again, he probably should have also seen this coming thinking back to how the rabbit always managed to secure a bag of marshmallows despite him not buying nearly as much as the angora consumed.

"Tsu-chan, Tsu-chan, is that what the pot is supposed to do when it burns?" the rabbit asked, as the young brunet was caught up in his thoughts. Well shit.

"G-gah! N-no, no, no, ahhhh, please don't burn!" he wailed fruitlessly to the pot as it began to boil over while the angora simply laughed in the background when he saw the young man pout and skulk over the mess.

…

…

…

"Hmm, Byakuran?" The angora's ears perked up.

"Yes, Tsu-Tsu?"

The brunet put down the bowl he was mixing and said flatly, "Never call me that ever again." Tsunayoshi gathered pretty quickly after the strawberry massacre was that if he didn't speak firmly to the rabbit then he wouldn't listen. A lot like how dogs don't listen if your voice wavers or you're wailing.

Funny how the rabbit acted more like the carnivores of the house rather than the sweet little rabbit he thought he had adopted.

Those white little ears twitched and fell downwards as he pouted. "But I wanna call you Tsu-Tsu!" Seeing the stonewall of a face the young owner was making, he sighed dramatically and gestured for the other to continue.

Tsuna, idly mixing the bowl, asked the million-dollar question, "How did you guys end up like this?"

The rabbit hummed for a bit, contemplating the answer as he toyed with a marshmallow in between his fingers, "It's hard to say, Tsu-chan. But if I really had to explain to you, I'd say it's because we were granted our wish from the angel through the window. Or the witch. I never could tell the difference."

Seriously? Then again, the angel thing made as much sense as turning from animal to human so he was willing to suspend his disbelief. "O-oh…so you wished to become human?" he asked.

The white-haired man just smiled again and practically sang, "Wrong~!" He wagged a finger at Tsuna, as if he were some naughty child caught asking too many questions. "I can't answer that, Tsu-chan, but let's just say it had less to do with humanity and more to do with the intangible."

The young ex-pet owner wrinkled his nose, absently filling the icing piping up and not really paying attention to the fact that. "That's not a very good clue. What is all that supposed to mean anyway?" he muttered, more to himself than anything.

Byakuran couldn't help but squee inwardly at the little look of concentration on little Tsunayoshi's face. The tip of his tongue stuck out in the cutest way as he tried to ice the cake. As much as he liked mooching off of Tsunayoshi's cooking skills in the past, he hadn't really felt like sharing it. If you knew what he meant. The brunet was so absorbed in the task that surely he wouldn't notice what Byakuran was doing…

"I'm almost done…" he said, just about to finish the edges when the angora, feigning ignorance, pulled at the icing.

"I wanna try, Tsu-chan!" he said playfully tugging at the piping.

Surprised, the brunet tried to warn him, "Ah, Byakuran don't pull on that, you'll-!" Too late. Byakuran squeezed it hard enough for it to splatter all over them, in their hair, on their face and on their clothes.

"Ara, look at the mess~!" he said in mock shame, leaning in to swipe at the smaller male's lower lip and taking delight in licking the icing off of his finger. "It's good though, ne, Tsu-chan?" And cute, little Tsunayoshi turned into that delicious strawberry pink color that he loved so well.

"B-b-…Hieee! What do you think you're doing?" he shrieked, pushing the angora away. He turned around and out of desperate desire to create some space, took a huge slop of the icing leftover in the bowl and threw it at the rabbit.

It was amazing how well it blended with his hair. And his shirt. And well, covered up most of his face. Ah...that was not the plan.

On the other side of the spectrum, the little brunet was panicking. Ah shit, Tsuna's really done it now hasn't he? The rabbit slowly wiped off the white cream that coated his face, staring in fascination as it fell from his hand and plopped onto the ground.

Uh..um…I..er…" he stuttered, trying to find a way to explain and apologize and yet also wanting to scold and be indignant about it. "Sorry?"

The rabbit didn't respond immediately, only looking down upon the ground for a second.. Then without looking up, "Sorry isn't going to cut it, Tsuna." He flinched at the harsh tone in the angora's voice — such a sharp contrast. For a second, he feared that he had made the rabbit truly angry.

Until the man looked up and started laughing his head off. He kicked the icing tube up into the air, grabbing it and brandishing it as a weapon. "Icing fight!" the childish man yelled, shooting the young brunet with the icing.

"S-Stop it! Hieee, take this!" Tsuna said back, before grabbing the bowl as a shield while simultaneously using the whisk to fling whatever remained in the bowl to retaliate. Soon enough they were running about in the small space of his kitchen, making an even bigger mess than before. Which Tsuna would inevitably have to clean up.

But…this was nice he supposed. Even if it was childish, and petty, it was fun. A lot more fun than anything he'd had in a long time. He supposed…acting like a child wasn't always a bad thing.

"I got you now, Tsu-chan~!" Byakuran said, charging at the young brunet — having run out of icing — and wrapping his arms around his waist.

"O-oi! Get off, you jerk!" he said, obviously without any real malice as he attempted to dump the remaining contents of the bowl onto the man before being forced to drop it as he was picked up off the ground. "B-Byakuran!" he yelped, and clung onto the man, "P-put me down-! Hieee! Don't start spinning!" he wailed as the rabbit did the complete opposite of what he said and began spinning around uncontrollably on the slippery, icing-covered floor.

"Never!" he laughed, nuzzling into the owner's chest and relishing in the warmth the young brunet exuded. There was a soft whine and then a sigh as the brunet seemed to resign to the fact that Byakuran wouldn't be letting him down anytime soon. Instead, the angora rabbit watched that shy little smile grow slowly that made his legs feel all wobbly. He eventually allowed the spinning to gradually dwindle down to a slow little circle. If he had his way he would have held little Tsunayoshi like that forever. But as these feeble human appendages called arms were unable to do so, he was forced to place the darling young man onto the ground again, although he had yet to relinquish the hold around the other's waist.

Tsuna, on the other hand, didn't really mind the grip. He was already really, really dizzy from the spinning and perhaps the smell of icing was beginning to give him a headache. He felt a bit nauseous but his heart felt a bit lighter. While it wasn't exactly the cleanest, he supposed throwing icing did help relieve a bit of his own stress. "Thank god," he sighed, putting a hand over his heart to slow it down. "I seriously thought I was going to puke." Then he pouted at the mess, "Look at this place. God, it's going to be such a pain to clean up," he sighed, biting his lip and thinking of all the hours wasted on mopping the floors, and the fridge, and literally dry cleaning the kitchen.

"Don't worry, Tsu-chan I'll clean it up," the man said absently as he snuggled into his hair again.

"Sure you will," the young man sighed, as he pulled away to pick up the bowl and whisk that lay largely forgotten on the floor.

"Hmph, I meant it! I'll even send for my little devils to pick up the pieces for me," he added, still following the young brunet as he checked on all the other food that hung over the stove.

"Y-your little devils?" he echoed, as he set out the plates. Why did it sound like the man had some sort of rabbit gang hanging around the area? ...Oh god he didn't really have one did he?

"Yep, where do you think I get all the marshmallows, darling?" he said. Darling? Byakuran really was just trying to run through every name he could think of.

"Okay then, uh...can you let go of me now? I need to set out dinner for - wait how is everyone still asleep?" Tsunayoshi suddenly remembered all the animals sleeping in the kitchen. Dinner was done and with all the noise they had been making in the kitchen.

"Well, I don't know, Tsu-chan, perhaps they're just really tired?" Byakuran said, as innocently as possible. No dice. Tsuna, even having the good sense of a brick could see something was wrong and shoved the rabbit off of him.

"Wait a second…" he trailed off, marching out of the kitchen and peeking into the living room where everyone seemed dead to the world.

Okay, there was absolutely no way they could have slept through that. They were so…noisy! And yet they were practically fine! He remembered quite clearly at the very least that Mukuro was a light sleeper, same as Gokudera. Yamamoto and Enma he could see as sleeping in but not the other two. He wandered over, shaking Gokudera as hard as he could and then moving on to rustle the others up. Not a single twitch.

"What are you doing, Tsu-chan?" said the devious rabbit, peering over his shoulder when he tried to wake up Mukuro.

Tsuna whirled around and poked him in harshly in the chest, "What did you do?" he snapped, gesturing to the rest.

Still unconcerned, he looked at the assorted men sleeping around the room, "I have no idea what you're talking about Tsu-chan." The guilty twitches on those ears said otherwise.

"Byakuran…" he said warningly.

The white rabbit shrugged. "So I might have…'accidentally' slipped a little sleepy dust in their drinks."

"Ugh, Byakuran, why?" the brunet cried, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

He smiled and pouted. Don't ask how that was possible, but it was. "I just wanted some time with my Tsu-Tsu!" he said, hanging off of the irritated Tsunayoshi's arm.

Tsuna facepalmed.

...

….

"Ugh, stupid fucking rabbit…" Gokudera grumbled, slightly subdued due to the fact that he had been drugged and asleep for the past few hours.

"Well it really melted the day away didn't it? At least you can't say you're bored anymore," Yamamoto added cheerfully, ever looking upon the bright side.

Mukuro and Enma didn't say much, the former wearing a very stretched smile and stabbing his pasta very angrily whilst the latter just toyed with his food absently. Was it not good…? And the boredom part, boy did he feel guilty about that.

The instant that Tsunayoshi finally got them to get up, Byakuran had mysteriously disappeared. Xanxus hadn't even bothered to get up, even when Tsuna prompted him to. He just left the food at the door and went, wondering if perhaps he had done something wrong. Or perhaps it was just Xanxus being Xanxus the dog - sleeping whenever he wanted, wherever he wanted. (Unbeknownst to Tsunayoshi, the man really was napping, and ...slightly embarrassed about going soft on his stupid owner).

He couldn't help but worry as to where the white rabbit and chartreux cat disappeared to. Even if Byakuran had been out of line, he still worried where he had gone - although part of that concern was for possible victims outside that may have been subject to the mischievous rabbit's tricks.

So joining him at the table tonight were Mukuro, Yamamoto, Gokudera and Enma. Hibari had still not returned from whatever he was doing and Tsuna wondered where in the world he could be. Hopefully he hadn't gotten into any trouble… Ah who was he kidding? They were all going to get into enough trouble to run him out of his apartment.

"The food is amazing, tenth. No one can cook like you!" the Kai Ken exclaimed, after finally eating and not cursing a certain angora's name to oblivion.

The Shiba Inu nodded along food completely full and sauce dotting the corners of his mouth. He ended up leaning forward, cleaning up the dark-haired man himself. "Don't talk with your mouth full, you could choke you know," he scolded gently, sighing when his face was finally clean. For some odd reason, Yamamoto looked really pink...he wasn't getting sick was he?

It disappeared the moment he let go of the dog's face, "Tsuna, you're the best!" he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

The Kai Ken beside him was steaming. "Stop taking my words, tennis ball idiot!" Gokudera snarled.

"So much barking from the stupid doggy...it's giving me a headache," Mukuro sighed, rubbing his forehead in irritation.

Enma crouched in on himself as Gokudera leaned forward across the table, slamming his fist in front of the pineapple-headed man. "Then I hope your head explodes, stupid pineapple!"

The golden dog tried to stop his silver-haired friend, "Maa, maa, why can't we all be nice and enjoy the food, right Tsuna?"

"I can't enjoy the tenth's food when that bastard is perving on the the tenth right there!" he exclaimed, seething when the harlequin rabbit scooted a bit closer to his beloved owner.

"As if you wouldn't take advantage of innocent little Tsunayoshi - perverted, hypocrite dog," the rabbit sneered. The Kai Ken's eyes flared, his ears rising up as he growled at the rabbit. For a second, Tsuna legitimately thought he was going to bark at the other.

"Why you stupid-!" Yamamoto had to hold back the angry silver-haired man as he attempted to strangle the harlequin rabbit, who was looking rather smug with his hands crossed against his chest and leaning back against his chair.

"Guys...can you not do this at dinner - and no one's listening to me," Tsuna sighed, as they continued to argue and throw veiled barbs at each other. He hoped things wouldn't be so crazy all the time; he was already exhausted from just one day of having them around.

But it wasn't like he had a choice. He was by no means kicking any of them out. No... he'd just have to swallow a bit of his pride and be willing enough to tap into his backup funds. Maybe work an extra job. He could make this work. He could.

It was the most he could do for his...his friends who had supported him throughout the years. Whether they were animals or humans, he was going to protect and care for them as he always had.

…

Whistling, the angora played with the yo-yo his little devils had found earlier, finding it greatly amusing. He had always been rather...immobile in that ridiculously fluffy form from before unable to do much. Of course it had its purposes...That was a dark time he'd rather forget.

At least the toy would help curb the boredom when Tsunayoshi was not around. School seemed to be such a bore. And he couldn't help but wonder why the brunet kept going if the place always made him appear so...tired. Watching the other make cake with him just a few hours before made him realize how diminished the boy was from school.

It wasn't until he had bothered the other that the sweet little sparkle in Tsunayoshi's eyes which usually appeared exclusively for mornings returned. He had always assumed that it was normal (although he didn't much like it).

"What a weirdo…"

"Don't get involved, he might be into some creepy stuff."

"Ah! He's looking this way, don't meet his eyes!"

Several people whispered and made room as the odd man with white hair and unnerving eyes of violet traipsed through the streets. The suspicious looking black hoodie made them all wonder whether he was part of some gang. Which Byakuran supposed was somewhat true.

How rude though. Humans. They were all so awful. With the exception of his darling little owner of course. He was the only one worth his attention here. Everyone else - even the other animals - could go disappear for all he cared.

He pulled his hoodie down further over his head. The woman had stressed about not showing their ears. After all, normal humans didn't have them and surely such things would only result in unfavorable consequences for both him and Tsunayoshi.

It was rather late (at least by human standards) when he returned. All the lights were out and the windows had all nearly been closed except for the one that Tsunayoshi had always left open for him and the silly aloof cat.

The sofa, leather chair, and table had been set to the side while several futons had been set out. On the floor lay Tsunayoshi, stuffed in-between the two dogs, the scaredy cat sleeping with his back to them on the happy dog's side. The black cat had fallen asleep on the leather chair, leaning against the armrest and the grey dog, seeming to have left his room, was asleep on the couch. The stupid pineapple was sitting on the desk, sleeping soundly with his head on the table.

It was a little surprising that their motley group managed not to kill each other over the sleeping arrangements. In fact, they all looked rather peaceful.

Byakuran was rather tempted to make as much noise as possible. If just to get things moving and interesting again. But as Tsunayoshi was here and seeing him sleep was rather endearing, he decided against such. He didn't much like the idea of sleeping like a dog on the floor or being in the same room with half of these people, so he let himself be content with just kneeling down, caressing the sleeping brunet's face.

So utterly serene. Not a single trace of the tired young man the white rabbit would see when he thought no one was looking. He leaned forward, the tiniest little peck wouldn't hurt now would it…?

Tempting. Tempting.

He ended up stopping himself, changing his course so as to kiss the young man on the forehead. "Goodnight Tsunayoshi."

He froze when the young man stirred. His lips parted slightly and a soft 'goodnight' slipped out. The boy then mumbled again and turned onto his side to face the normally loud dog beside him. Byakuran couldn't hold back a soft chuckle. Even in his sleep, Tsunayoshi always seemed to surprise him.

With another chaste kiss to the boy's head, he walked off to fall back onto the bed in the guest room. He ended up pulling out the little baggy of marshmallows Kikyo had given him, lazily throwing it back and forth. He opened it, popping one in his mouth and chewing before subsequently spitting it out. Ah well...one couldn't have everything without a bit of sacrifice right?

A pity. It had been a personal sin of his to indulge in such things. But...remembering little Tsunayoshi's sweet little smile, he supposed the rewards were far greater than the losses.

It's not like he was as handicapped as the others.

"Lucky me. Fate must like me better than the others," he said to himself, throwing the bag into the waste bin. It was a rather unpleasant price, but he could endure. He would win this game and no one was going to get in his way.

Tsunayoshi was his after all. And he wasn't much for sharing.

A/N: I wanna see if anyone can guess what happened to everyone else. Kufufufufufu... I also have one thing to say about the cake thing. I have a feeling that it would not be possible for Tsuna to be alone with Byakuran unless he did something to everyone else. Because ain't nobody trust fox face marshmallow man. He's like threat #1. Just cause.

Because I feel like its become a thing: Continue?