Ah, Saturday. Blessed day. No university, no friends complaining that he didn't hang out with them anymore, no kids…

"Dino-Nii!"

Half-asleep, Dino groaned and tried to pull his duvet over his head. This was Saturday! Sleep! Sleep! He wanted to SLEEP!

"Dino-Nii!" Tsuna tugged at the duvet. "Dino-Nii!"

"What?" Dino grumbled, self-pity welling up inside him. This was Saturday…! Sob…!

Tsuna pulled the duvet off his guardian's head. He gave the man a bright grin. "Good morning!"

Dino almost stopped the self-pitying at the smile. This kid was just so cute! But this was Saturday! Saturday! It was an eventful day! The day he slept late! He sighed and turned over. "Let me sleep."

"B-but, Dino-Nii, I'm hungry." Tsuna said.

"Then get a snack or something. Please let me sleep." The duvet was thrown over the blond head again.

"Um…Kyou-Nii's making breakfast. I think he burnt somethi…" Tsuna started to say.

"WHAT?" Dino immediately shot out of bed. Unfortunately, his legs tangled in the duvet and he fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"Dino-Nii! Are you okay?" Tsuna exclaimed.

The man flung the duvet off and jumped to his feet. "This is no time to worry about that! I have to stop the house being burnt to the ground!" With that, he turned and fled the room. Tsuna waited. A few moments later, there was another crash. The boy winced and rushed out. At the top of the stairs, he too fell and, with a cry, tumbled down. At the foot of the stairs, his head collided against Dino's stomach, driving the air out of the man's lungs.

"Ow…" Dino groaned as he got the boy off of him and sat up. "Geez, Tsuna, what's your head made of?"

"I'm sorry, Dino-Nii." Tsuna said.

Dino scrambled to his feet. He could already smell something burning and smoke was coming out of the kitchen. It was a strong smell. This was bad! "Kyouya! What're you doing?" he called out before he even got in the kitchen.

Once he did get inside, though, he wished he was seeing some bad dream. Something on the stove was on fire and a thick screen of smoke filled the kitchen. Standing before the stove was the little black-haired boy. He was still in his black pyjamas. There was a bandanna wrapped around the lower half of his face, to provide some relief from the smoke.

Coughing, Dino went to throw open the back door and then hurried over to the window and opened that too. Any minute now, the smoke alarm would go off. Tsuna was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, also coughing. Hand clamped over his mouth, Dino took Kyouya and pushed both boys out. "Don't come in!" He said, closing the door in their faces.

Hand still over his mouth, he went to the stove and turned it off. The handle of the pot was red hot. He got a dishcloth and took the pot to the sink, where he submerged it in cold water. Whatever Kyouya had been cooking had become black goo. What was this supposed to be? Was he trying to commit suicide by eating this crap? Or was he going to feed it to Dino and kill him? Dino wasn't totally averse to believing the latter.

The smoke slowly cleared out. Dino breathed a sigh of relief when he could get clean air in. He cleaned the place up and then went to let the kids in. They were in the living room, arguing.

"Kyou-Nii! That's mine!" Tsuna wailed.

Dino walked into the room. The children were having a tug of war over a teddy bear.

"I need to experiment with it." Kyouya said, easily overpowering the other. That done, he held up the teddy and ripped its belly. Stuffing fell out. He looked down at it, displeased. He threw the teddy aside as Tsuna started to bawl.

Dino sighed. "What did you do that for, Kyouya?"

Kyouya looked up at him. "To see if there was anything unusual in it?"

"Why is that a question? And it's a teddy bear; what did you expect was in it?" Dino asked as he went up to Tsuna. He knelt by the boy and put a hand on one small shoulder. "Don't worry, Tsuna. I'll try and fix it for you, okay?"

Between sobs, Tsuna nodded. Dino stood up, "I'll make breakfast now. Come to the kitchen." He stopped on his way to the door though and turned back to look at Kyouya. His expression was one of disapproval. "Don't try to cook when I'm not around. You'll hurt yourself."

"Hn." was Kyouya's response.

As he made breakfast, Dino thought about what to do for the day. That was already decided, though. They had things to get. Trips to town were always hectic, but they needed to be done. He didn't have the time to go shopping for groceries during the week, since he was busy with university. He barely managed to make it there in time every day, and it was the same when he went to pick the kids up from school. Everything was so hectic. Between all his rushing around, he wondered how he managed to stay upright at all.

He just about managed to pull himself out of his self-pity as he served the kids their breakfast. Kyouya had a whole pot of rice to himself, along with a few bowls worth of miso soup and a hell of a lot of tea. He didn't like the western food that Tsuna and Dino liked to eat every once in a while. At least, not for breakfast.

"Do you kids need anything from town?" Dino asked as he sat down with his and Tsuna's plate of toast. "It's better if I know where to go before we get there."

"Can we go to the park?" Tsuna asked brightly. Kyouya said nothing.

"After we've taken care of the shopping." Dino nodded. "So, do you need anything?" He was more aware of what Tsuna needed, since Tsuna wasn't quite as capable of taking care of himself and had to be looked after more. Dino was looking specifically at Kyouya, but the boy wouldn't speak until he'd finished eating. So all questions were postponed until breakfast was over.

When Kyouya finished the last of his tea, he put down his cup and briefly held his hands together and, bowing his head, he muttered, "Thanks for the meal" barely loud enough to be heard. Tsuna was still eating and making a grand mess of things. The tabletop in front of him was littered with the hard edges, as well as errant bits, of bread that had fallen when he broke off his toast to put it in his mouth. He was five years old but he ate like a little baby. No wonder he got teased at school.

Dino started picking dishes up. "So, do you need anything, Kyouya?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Don't tell me on the way back home that you need a new set of pencils cuz you broke the packet before."

Kyouya was about to reply but stopped, a thoughtful frown creasing his brows. He tilted his head to the side. "Ah."

Dino felt an urge to facepalm. "Ah? What "ah"? What is it?"

"I need to replace five exercise books that I tore, as well as another packet of ten pencils."

"Five exercise books? And what did you do to the previous ten-packet I got you last week? You broke all of them?"

"Twice a day, five days a week." the boy looked at the man as if Dino was dumb.

Dino did smack a hand over his face then. "What are you made of? Normal kids don't snap pencils. If you need some anger management, then I'll arrange for classes for you."

Kyouya frowned up at him. "Anger management? I don't have issues."

"Yes you do. Get a punching bag or something. Don't take it out on random objects."

Kyouya looked at him thoughtfully. "Can I vent my anger on you, then?"

"No you damn well can't!"

Tsuna blinked. "Dino-Nii, what does "damn" mean?"

"Nothing! Never mind!" Growing ever more frustrated, Dino picked up the pile of dishes and took them to the sink. "Tsuna, go and fill the bath. After you've had a bath, we'll go to town. Kyouya, you get ready too."

"But I haven't finished breakfast!" Tsuna cried.

"Ok, ok, finish first."

Kyouya left the room. When Dino was taking Tsuna up after finishing in the kitchen a few minutes later, the black-haired boy was emerging out of the bathroom, towelling his hair dry. He was now dressed in a pair of black jeans and a polo shirt. He looked over at Dino and Tsuna, the latter being carried up the stairs, and said, "herbivores" before going to his own room and closing the door. Dino and Tsuna exchanged a glance. Tsuna shrugged. Dino shook his head and went to Tsuna's room. He picked up a towel and clothes and then went to give the boy a bath.

"Dino-Nii! We need to get some crisps! And chocolate! Oh, and some sweets!" Tsuna cried, pointing out pretty much everything as they passed by the aisles of the supermarket. He was holding onto the side of the trolley as Dino pushed it along. He looked up, a bright smile on his face, "please?"

"No. We came walking, remember? If we get all that stuff, who d'ya think is gonna carry it?" Dino asked, stopping to pick up a bottle of orange squash and then dropping it into the trolley. It had barely been five minutes but he was already annoyed. Kyouya had disappeared off somewhere, without Dino having even realised it. He'd been explaining to Tsuna that no, the little girl standing by the entrance looking for her mommy wasn't there to be bought and when he'd turned around, Kyouya was nowhere to be seen.

He'd intended on a quick trip but that was impossible with Tsuna tagging along. "Dino-Nii!" he cried, pointing once again, "Look! Can we get that?"

Dino looked to where he was pointing. There was a huge sign of a cartoon monkey pointing at a brand of kids' yoghurt. Dino frowned. "You don't like them. I brought them a few weeks ago and you spat it out, remember?"

"B-but, the monkey…" Tsuna said, looking up at the man with wide, distressed eyes.

"Don't make that face at me!" Dino cried, looking away. Already, he could feel his freewill being sapped away by that cute little face. This kid was too much. "All right, all right, just this once. If you spit it out this time, I'm going to take away your TV privileges for a week, ok?"

Tsuna grinned as he ran up to get a bunch of yoghurt pots featuring the monkey. "Ok!"

His interest in the monkey soon waned as he spotted cereal boxes featuring colourful depictions of other cartoon characters. Before he could point them out though, Dino said, "we're already got them. You're not getting more. Anyway, let's go find Kyouya."

Tsuna wasn't winning this one, even when he tried The Cute Face of Doom. The discovery of this Face had been but a few months ago, on a similar shopping trip. He'd seen an action figure and he'd really wanted it, though he'd not been able to bring himself to ask for it, since he hadn't been all that comfortable in asking such a thing of someone he hadn't known that well. But his eyes had been longing for the toy. Dino had noticed and went into the shop to get it for him. He'd learnt then that words weren't always the best tools.

It didn't work on everybody, just Dino, and that only at times. Mostly when Dino was in a good mood. At this moment in time, the majority of Dino's attention was taken up by searching from aisle to aisle, trying to locate his other charge so Tsuna drudged behind dejectedly.

"Kyouya!" Dino finally cried as he spotted a dark figure by the exit. "What're you doing over there?"

Kyouya didn't respond. As was in his nature, he'd found the place least frequented by people; the last of the doors leading outside. Dino groaned, "Kyouya, come over here, please."

Still, Kyouya didn't respond. Dino pushed his self-pity to the side as he wondered what to do. He could go over there and force the kid back, but they had the checkouts to go through and he hadn't gotten all his shopping done yet. He could leave the trolley and Tsuna here while he dashed over to Kyouya.

It would only take a matter of seconds, unless Kyouya ran out the doors, but Dino was apprehensive about leaving Tsuna alone for any period of time. The child didn't seem to have any qualms about wandering about the supermarket on his own. Before, he'd not been like that. He'd always stick to Dino's side like glue. He was picking up Kyouya's bad habits.

He didn't want to leave the trolley and take Tsuna and go, because then someone might make off with it (as had happened a few times in the past) and he didn't want to have to start shopping all the way from the beginning.

Or he could leave Kyouya alone.

He went with the last one. Whatever Kyouya's habits, he wouldn't just run off when he'd specifically been asked to wait…would he? Not that he listened usually. Dino didn't want to test it but there weren't many options and he just wanted to get home. It wasn't even midday and he was exhausted.

"Kyouya, wait there!" he called out, turning the trolley around. "We'll only be a few minutes!"

Kyouya didn't respond. After that, Dino rushed the shopping, ignoring all of Tsuna's demands and getting only the essentials on the list. There was anxiety creeping up his heart. Kyouya was a problem child. Problem children rarely listened. If Kyouya left the shop and wandered off on his own, how would Dino find him? This was so problematic!

"Dino-Nii! I want ice cream!" Tsuna cried, tugging persistently at Dino's sleeve. "Please! Dino-Nii! Can we get some ice…?"

"Be quiet, Tsuna!" Dino snapped. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh and the effect it had on the little boy was immediately obvious; his eyebrows scrunched up and his bottom lip trembled. Many of the shoppers around them turned to stare.

"Aah!" for a brief moment, Dino panicked. What to do? He was so mean! He fell to one knee and embraced the child. "Sorry, Tsuna." he sighed. "I didn't mean to shout."

Tsuna didn't say anything. Instead, he focused on not sobbing. It was rare for Dino to seriously shout at them. He was a calm person, usually. Tsuna was easily scared anyway.

Dino pulled back and peered at the child cautiously, "you're not crying, right?"

Summoning up his courage, Tsuna shook his head. "N-no…"

The man grinned and ruffled his hair. "Atta boy. Now let's go get that ice cream, huh?"

Tsuna grinned a happy grin. "Ok!"

So they got their ice cream and went to the checkout to pay. Dino was pleased. It hadn't been that bad today…

Well, that was what he thought until he glanced at the spot where Kyouya should have been. There was nobody there. Dino groaned and, picking up the numerous bags (having bought much more than he'd intended), he rushed out. Tsuna struggled to keep up. "D-Dino…Nii!" he cried breathlessly, bent over with his hands on his knees as he emerged outside the store, his little legs aching. Dino was already well ahead, head turning this way and that as he sought out Kyouya. The black-haired boy was nowhere to be seen.

His face a curious mix of resignation and annoyance, Dino returned to Tsuna. "Let's go. We'd better check everywhere. We can't leave without him."

Tsuna nodded.

They did search everywhere. There was a games store near the supermarket. They asked the staff if a small, black-haired boy of so height had come in. They said no. The duo of man and child checked the nearest café, vainly hoping that he'd stopped by for a bite to eat with the allowance he kept saving up. No luck there either. They tried yet another games store, but there had been no sightings of a boy matching Dino's description.

When they'd looked through as many shops as they'd thought Kyouya might stop at, they tried nearby parks. No luck, though Tsuna wanted to sit down for a rest. But there was no time. They'd been searching for about two hours now. They couldn't rest. Who knew where that kid would be?

They got their response an hour later, when they finally walked home. Dino had decided that he would call the police to search, since there was nothing else he could do. Tsuna needed to take a nap; he was practically falling asleep on his feet. He would doubtlessly be hungry too.

It was taking everything Dino had not to fly into a panic. The child he'd been entrusted with was missing! What was he going to do?

As he approached the gate of his home, though, he stopped, face a comical mask of relief and shock. "Kyouya?"

Tsuna jumped, taken out of his half-asleep state. "K-Kyou-Nii?"

Kyouya was sitting on the doorstep. There was a book in his hands. He looked up. "Yo."

More than three hours of frantic searching…Dino's eyebrow twitched. "Don't "yo" me! How long have you been here?"

Kyouya tilted his head to the side as he tried to estimate how much time had passed since he'd come here. "About…three hours."

"THREE HOURS? We've been searching everywhere for you!"

The child looked disinterested. Tsuna went over and flopped down beside him on the doorstep. "So tired…" he groaned. "Ice cream…"

Dino snorted as he walked through the two and opened the door. "You won't get that for a while. Kyouya, I want a word with you later. Day in day out, I keep telling you, don't wander off on your own! Don't give me heart attacks, brat! Come on, both of you, inside."

I wonder if the comedy bit is slipping... :\ Sorry for such slow updates. At least it ain't a proper storyline, right? There's something to be glad about heh heh...Oh wait...I might change that...if I can think of a proper storyline. I'm halfway there lol

Thank you for the wonderful reviews everybody and remember! Don't take it too seriously ;D