Insecurities are frightening. It could swallow you, then spit you out like nothing.

Seven

Orithyea

Chapter 9: The Fifth Day

He wasn't able to sleep a wink. No matter how much he twisted and turned on his bed, the god of sleep didn't visit him. Glancing at the wall clock, he groaned in frustration when he noticed it was almost four in the morning. He had school tomorrow; he needed to sleep and wake up in two to three hours. Sleep, damn it, sleep! He tried counting sheep to make him feel drowsy. But no matter what he did, that scene kept repeating in his mind.

Oh, god. Tsuna inwardly cringed. Why did the prefect have to do that? No, he did not definitely enjoy it. That one act simply shocked him to the core. He did expect that they would be going out for a week, but he plainly thought it was more like them hanging out – just not inside the school. He shifted his pillow and buried his face. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to get a bit of shut-eye.

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"Tsu-kun...Tsu-kun!"

Tsuna slowly opened his eyes, moaning at the sudden brightness in his vision. The heaviness of his eyes made him crave to close it again. Just as he was about to close them, frigid liquid was thrown unto him. The sudden coldness made him yelp in surprise. With his right hand, he wiped his face, grimacing at his drenched state. He looked at his mother, completely surprised. "Mom, why did you do that?"

Nana pouted, both hands holding a gray bucket. "Didn't you tell me to throw water on you to wake you up?"

"Mom, that was three days ago!" he groaned, his pajamas already stuck to his skin. The uncomfortable feeling forced him to stand up. Turning back, his eyes observed the wet sheets. Even his pillow wasn't salvaged. A sigh left his lips. Since he was already awake, he might as well prepare for school. School..., he idly thought. "School!" shrieked the brunet. "What time is it?"

"Five minutes past eight," replied Nana, still pouting. "I kept trying to wake you up, but you refused to."

"Did Hibari-san come?" shouted Tsuna, hurrying to the bathroom for a quick shower. Nana merely watched her son in amusement when he came out of the bathroom in less than five minutes.

"He was here around half an hour ago," she replied. "But when I told him you were still sleeping, he suddenly left and I think he was mumbling something." Nana placed an index finger on her left cheek in wonder. "I only caught the word bite though. Were you two going to eat somewhere before going to school?" She cocked her head.

Mom, your son's going to be bitten to death, Tsuna inwardly cried. Swiftly, he pushed his mother out of the room, claiming he needed to get dressed fast. His mother simply smiled and nodded. Panicking, he hurried to put his uniform on. It took him almost ten minutes to finally finish, courtesy of his trembling fingers. With a glance at the clock, he prayed mentally that Hibari would find it in his heart to forgive him. After all, they were lovers for the week...weren't they?

Who was he kidding? Personal things and discipline were entirely separated.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"I-I can explain..." Tsuna gulped upon seeing the silver rods the prefect held in each hand. So much for being forgiving. With another gulp, the brunet started slowly backing away from Hibari, afraid of falling victim to the unmerciful tonfas. Regardless, he did say he could explain. But in honesty, he could not. There would never be a day when Sawada Tsunayoshi would confess that he could not sleep because of such a simple thing like a kiss on the cheek...especially from Hibari.

"No need to be so stingy," a new person intervened. Tsuna felt an arm snake on his shoulders. To his uttermost shock, it was Reborn who intruded. Paralysed at being powerless, he helplessly watched as the two most terrifying students in the entire school exchanged words.

"Reborn." How a single word could be filled with so much malevolence, Tsuna could never know.

"Can't you be a little nicer," said Reborn, sarcasm dripping in the last word, "to Dame-Tsuna? After all, he is your lover." The words only seemed to fuel the prefect's rage.

"This and that are different things." Hibari scowled.

Reborn tilted his head, a smirk gracing his lips. "Maybe. But you do owe me one, so I suggest you let him go for now," said Reborn, his hold on the smaller one tightening. At the action, Tsuna bit his lip, becoming aware of the proximity of the senior and him. He struggled, attempting to loosen the other's grasp on him, which only led for the former to scale up his hold.

"Get out of my sight." Hibari seethed. "Now."

Tsuna flinched. Since they had started their forced relationship, Hibari never used a venomous tone on him. The practice was normal before all of the craziness had ensued, so whenever the prefect bit him to death, he had never felt any sort of inner wound nor held any grudge. But now, as much as he loathed admitting it, he felt a little hurt at his supposed-lover's words. He felt Reborn move closer, easily feeling the older boy's breath as he whispered, "Don't worry, Dame-Tsuna, that's simply his way of agreeing."

The start of Reborn walking snapped Tsuna out of his reverie. The presence of an arm around his shoulders was very much unwelcomed to the brunet. And Hibari was there. It felt so, so wrong. He gave a wry smile to the fedora-wearing boy and shrugged off his arm which appeared to be stuck on him. Glancing up, he found an amused smile on the other. Irritated yet nervous, Tsuna said, "T-thank you for saving me, R-Reborn-senpai. But I don't think there's any need for t-this." He allowed his eyes to rest on the man's arm.

"They say the best hiding place against a wolf is in another wolf's den," answered Reborn, a sly smile appearing on his face. The smile turned into a very amused grin when he suddenly said, "Duck."

In the spur of the moment, Reborn pushed Tsuna away from him as he jumped, landing a few metres away from their previous location. Confused, Tsuna looked at the scene and was surprised to notice that he was now resting in Hibari's arms. What just happened? He continued to look around, doubly surprised that Reborn had disappeared. Where did the man go? Filled with questions, he turned to Hibari to ask when his mind registered once more that the prefect was holding him.

Flushing, Tsuna hesitantly attempted to lift the arms off when the grip tightened. Worried and rather afraid, Tsuna glanced at Hibari, who by now was deadly glaring where Reborn used to be. He could easily hear the prefect muttering his catchphrase. Getting edgy, he interrupted, "Uh...Hibari-san?" Hibari stopped his mumbling and released his hold. The abrupt act made the brunet stagger, but nonetheless was able to regain his stance.

"I'll bring you to your classroom." Hibari scowled, looking straight at Tsuna.

Tsuna nodded vigorously, afraid of getting bitten to death. In his strange way of doing it, Reborn indeed had saved him. Though the exchange between the two was frightening. He gazed forward, seeing Hibari start to advance. He followed a few steps from behind, still scared at the thought of facing the other's wrath. Hibari, without a doubt, was irked. Tsuna would understand him being irritated at his tardiness, but somehow, Hibari's anger seemed to be of a higher level than the usual.

Perplexed, he wondered what made the prefect achieve this level of crossness. It was possible that he was just in a bad mood today, but Hibari was normal when he first arrived at school. Normal meaning angry and wanting to bite herbivores to death. That was until Reborn entered the picture. Reborn simply asked the prefect to let Tsuna off – which he actually was very grateful for – and acted very close with the brunet, swinging his arm around him and all.

Perhaps that was it. Maybe the prefect was jealous of another man touching him? Tsuna slapped his forehead. That was beyond impossible, and anyway, where the hell did he get that thought? The only plausible reason for this was that the two had an undying hatred for one another. But, he recalled, Reborn said that he created Vongola with Hibari, so that must mean they were friends. Tsuna snorted. Impossible.

"I will remind you of this, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Tsuna looked up in bewilderment. "The fact that we are dating does not mean that you are exempt from rules and being disciplined. You are a student of Namimori before you are my lover. That fact will not change." Hibari gazed at him, eyes expressionless.

He gulped. "I-I understand, Hibari-san. T-this won't h-happen again."

Hibari didn't answer him. Instead, he left him alone in front of his classroom. Sighing, Tsuna entered the classroom and winced at the volume of the teacher's shouts at him. Next time, he would be more than glad for his mother to throw cold water on him as long as it was early.

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Right now was officially Sawada Tsunayoshi's most awkward moment in his entire sixteen years of existence. He didn't know what to say, where to look, or could even sit still, so he kept playing with his fingers and decided to keep his gaze at the floor.

When Hibari fetched him in his classroom, Tsuna was sure that he would be bitten to death for earlier. But he was proven wrong when the prefect acted normally as if nothing happened earlier. Now in the Reception Room, he and Hibari were sitting on the mustard-colored couch. Uncomfortable silence brimmed the air and Tsuna didn't have the guts to break it.

"You are not going to eat?" asked Hibari.

Tsuna was grateful that his lover – no – the Disciplinary Committee's Chairman took the initiative, although he did forget that they were supposed to eat, and for that, he felt very stupid. "R-right," he stuttered, fumbling with the lunch boxes he brought. He handed one to the prefect and a set of chopsticks.

Fortunately this time, they ate in comfortable silence. Only the sound of chewing could be heard. Tsuna's mind flew to everywhere. It was wrong to start getting comfortable around Hibari, but he wouldn't deny that the time he had spent together with him was enjoyable. The time when he saved him from Suzuki, the amusement park, where they battled each other with rides the other despised, the movies, where Tsuna found out that talking with Hibari was nice, and then...the kiss.

Tsuna found his cheeks feeling hot. He felt so confused. Kisses were something that you do with the person you like. He didn't even like Hibari in that way. Yes, he certainly hated the teen at first for being Kyoko's target of affection, but overall, the short time with Hibari had somewhat made him move on from his feeling of dislike for him. But...how come a single kiss on the cheek could make him so flustered?

Perhaps because it was the first time someone had done that to him? Yes, he was sure that was the reason. It was impossible for Hibari to like him anyway. He was popular, good-looking, strong, and kind in his own way, while he was clumsy, stupid, weak, and easy to pick on.

Why was he even thinking if Hibari likes him?

Surprised at himself, he shook his head and erased his earlier thoughts. Hibari doesn't like him. That much was painfully obvious. Such irrational thoughts weren't even worth being thought upon. Anyway, he was getting way off course from his original purpose. Help Kyoko. Help Kyoko. Help Kyoko.

"Tsunayoshi."

Snapping away from his musings, the brunet's eyes looked widely at the prefect. "Y-yes?"

Hibari stared at him, his unreadable eyes making Tsuna restless. "Your mind doesn't appear to be with us today."

"S-sorry. I was just thinking of something," he answered, picking up a piece of meat from his lunch.

"Do you wish to speak about it?" asked Hibari. Tsuna almost spitted out the meat. Hibari Kyouya...the Hibari Kyouya asking him to share what he was thinking? Was he going to act as an advisor? Now that was a laugh.

"Uh...it's fine." Tsuna continued to eat, suppressing his laughter.

Hibari did not pursue the topic, but instead said, "I won't be able to walk home with you. I have some business to attend to." Tsuna wondered why Hibari's voice sounded irritated as he said business. He decided to shrug it off.

"Do you want me to wait for you?" asked Tsuna. The raven-haired teen had always walked him home. He figured he could at least return the favor by waiting for him.

"No. Go home immediately before it gets dark," replied Hibari.

Before it gets dark? What was he? His mother? Tsuna snorted. It kind of felt good to know that he was worried for him, then again, maybe it was something that he tells to all of his dates. "Yes, Mom," he muttered.

"What was that?"

"...nothing."

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With no clubs and no Hibari Kyouya to wait for, Tsuna decided to go home immediately. That was what he planned until his classmates shoved the cleaning duty on him. The sky was already turning orange when he finished. He reminded himself to get home before dark. Thinking about it couldn't help but amuse him greatly. With a last look at the classroom, he closed the door and ambled for the school gate.

As he was passing the baseball field, he wasn't surprised that the baseball club was still practicing. If Tsuna remembered correctly, they had an upcoming game two weeks from now. What did surprise him, however, was a certain student sitting on the grass a few metres away from the field, watching.

Deciding to approach him, Tsuna ran over to him. He hadn't spoken with neither him nor Yamamoto today. "Hi, Gokudera-kun. Are you waiting for Yamamoto?" he asked.

"What?" Gokudera turned scarlet. "Who said I was waiting for that idiot?"

It's kind of obvious, isn't it? He didn't dare voice his musing out loud. "Well...what are you doing here then? Are you interested in baseball?" He figured it wouldn't hurt to talk with Gokudera for a while, so he sat down beside him.

"Who would be interested in this stupid sport?" He scowled. "What are you doing here anyway? Where's Hibari?"

"I just wanted to talk with you, I guess," answered Tsuna sheepishly. "Hibari-san told me he had something to do, so he won't be able to walk with me today." As he said that, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He had indeed gotten used to the prefect's presence.

"Miss him already?" Gokudera smirked.

"Of course n-not!" Tsuna waved his hands frantically. "It's just that it's been a while since I went home alone. Kyoko-chan always walks with me. But since Hibari-san...," he trailed off.

Gokudera rested his head on the grassy field and looked at the sky. "You're already in love with the bird freak, huh."

Tsuna burst into laughter. "No, no." He clutched his stomach and wiped away the tears that were on the edge of his eyes. "That's impossible. I would never fall in love with him. I have Kyoko-chan, remember?"

"Tch. Still in the denial stage, eh?" An amused tone dripped Gokudera's voice.

Tsuna furrowed his eyebrows. "Aren't you talking about yourself? You're in love with Yamamoto."

At this, Gokudera sat up and glared at the brunet. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm not in love with that idiot!"

"And you tell me I'm in the denial stage," scoffed Tsuna. "It's alright to admit it, you know. You can trust me." He smiled at him, remembering the time when the other had given him advice at Takesushi.

"There's nothing to admit."

"Yes, there is."

"No, there's not."

"Yes, there is."

"No, there's not."

"Yes, there—"

"Alright already! I'm in love with him, happy?" spat Gokudera. "Now shut up and leave me alone. You're lucky we aren't allowed to interfere with the others' dates or else I would have beat you up already. And...," he grabbed Tsuna's collar, "if you tell this to anyone I will personally see to your death. Understand?"

Eep! Tsuna bobbed his head vehemently. "I-I promise!" With that, Gokudera released his grip and fixed his gaze on the baseball field once more. With their conversation finally heading somewhere, Tsuna asked, "Have you ever considered confessing?"

Gokudera whirled his head and faced him. "Are you crazy? Of course not. It's impossible that he feels the same anyway."

I'm sure Yamamoto feels the same, though. Tsuna resolved to get the two together. "Why not? You never know unless you try!" He grinned, but was met with a scowl from Gokudera.

"You know how he always has this idiotic grin on his face?" Tsuna nodded. "Well...I'm not exactly like that, aren't I?" said Gokudera. "So I'm sure there's no way he'll return my feelings."

Tsuna blinked. Was Gokudera feeling insecure? Taking a risk, he whacked the back of Gokudera's head, earning him a deadly glare. He noticed the other about to retort, so he said hurriedly, "Do you remember what you told me back at Yamamoto's place? 'Every person has their own assets. You just need to find yours and you'll gain your confidence,' that's what you told me. Gokudera-kun, you are you. I'm sure Yamamoto sees that."

Gokudera turned silent for a moment, most probably taking in what Tsuna had just said. "Heh. I never expected my own words to be used against me." He turned his emerald eyes on Tsuna. "Alright. If you confess then I'll confess too. How's that?"

"Eh? I can't. I would only ruin my friendship with Kyoko-chan!" he protested.

Gokudera raised an eyebrow. "Who said I was talking about Sasagawa? I meant Hibari, you moron."

"But I don't...to him...," mumbled Tsuna.

At the sight of the players finally finishing, Gokudera stood up and Tsuna followed. He glanced at the brunet, a smirk curving his lips. With the palm of this hand, he roughly hit the back of Tsuna's head, warranting a wince from the smaller teen. "Che. You're really a moron." Gokudera turned and walked towards the baseball field, leaving a very, very confused Tsuna .

"But I really don't...right?" he muttered into thin air.