AN: You guys are all the best, nyehh. ; )
Enjoy my last chapter for a month and a bit.
Explanation after you read the story. Nomnomnom. 1800 hugs all around.

Shades of Solitude

stage three

butterflies

Enma was already ten minutes late when he was met with a full blast of sunshine early in the morning. His phone had run out of batteries in the middle of the night; therefore, his alarm clock did not ring at the designated time. By the time Enma had tripped over his own feet while yanking on his sneakers, he knew that he was definitely going to be late for school. Biting down on the dry piece of toast that had been left on the counter for him, he held it between his lips as he grabbed his backpack.

He managed to gulp down all of his toast before he reached the school. Taking in the full image of the building, he was a little taken aback to see a shadowy figure standing on the edge of the roof. Thinking that it was a suicide jumper, Enma had a second thought about walking away and pretending that he didn't see anything. But that was unorthodox, so he took slow, shy steps towards the building. In seconds, the figure had turned around and started walking away, and in minutes, Enma wished he had chosen to walk away. It had been Hibari Kyoya that was on the roof. A yellow ball of feathers fluttered down beside the boy and perched on his shoulder; Enma's crimson eyes were transfixed on the animal. Peeved at the lack of attention he was receiving, Hibari gave a sharp look to the fluffy yellow bird on his shoulder.

"Hibird, this is pathetic herbivore. Pathetic herbivore, Hibird. And you're late."

Enma didn't comment on the introduction; he already knew he was useless. Ducking his head down, he tried side-stepping around Hibari, avoiding speaking directly to the Discipline Leader at all costs. He was immediately blocked, and when he glanced up for a split second, he saw the smirk on the impassive male's lips. Suddenly dreading for his life, he backed a step away, and mumbled an apology that could be heard by nothing but the wind. Hibari didn't bother asking for a repetition. He stepped away, inclining his head and glaring at Enma with slight displeasure.

"Get to class."

Enma was only glad to oblige.

He was also glad that the teacher didn't reproach him for being late; his dark trousers were half-falling from running all the way to school, and he was panting, out of breath. Without even taking a glance up from the textbook he was reading from, his teacher waved him to his desk, and Enma was more than glad to rush to his seat. Letting his bag slide off his shoulder, he let out a wisp of breath from the corner of his lips and returned a slight smile to Tsuna; he looked just as exhausted as he did.

"I came late, too." Tsuna smiled sheepishly, shrugging one shoulder. "You came two minutes after I did."

"I tried not to come late," Enma explained, though he knew that there wasn't any need to make excuses - not to his friend, anyway.

"Here, Enma, you can copy my notes," Yamamoto shifted his desk to the side, and Enma's desk clattered as its edge made contact with the other boy's. He pushed his paper onto Enma's desk, and while he was doing so, Gokudera made frantic notions to connect his desk with the Tsuna's. A split second later, just as Enma took hold of the lined piece of paper, a shadow cast over Enma's slender body and, meekly, he glanced up to see Hibari glowering at the lack of space between Yamamoto and his own desk.

"You're crowding."

Apparently, he hadn't left yet. Briskly pushing Yamamoto's desk until there was a fifteen centimeter space between the two students, Hibari then stepped back, satisfied. Enma was suddenly very interested at the pencil marks on his desk, and he absolutely refused to look up again to meet those dark orbs. It was a good thing he heard pattering footsteps retreating towards the door; the air was starting to be a little uncomfortable.

"Ah? That was weird. Hibari sure is strange." There was a creak of a desk as its legs dragged across the floor, and once again, Yamamoto was connected with Enma. "Anyway, here you go."

Enma couldn't help but agree, though; it was a little strange.

Tsuna's eraser had fallen to the ground two minutes before class ended. Random as it was, it was rather odd to see a pink eraser bouncing along the floor until it rolled to a stop by Enma's feet. Gokudera had leapt up from his seat, causing a ruckus around him. Enma blinked at the eraser before stooping down to pick it up. By that time, it was too late for Gokudera to come running over to the rescue. The redhead held the eraser out for Tsuna to take.

"Ah, thank you, Enma-kun."

The moment their fingers touched, a shock sparked between them and Enma pulled back, alarmed at the sharp, stinging pain. It lasted for only a second, but it was enough to make his other hand grasp his finger tightly. Tsuna had recoiled with the same expression, and then, with an apologetic smile, he murmured, "Oops."

"What happened? Did he hurt you?"

The teacher had given up on the lesson. The class was disrupted – laughing – all because Dame-Tsuna's eraser had rolled to the ground. In two seconds, Gokudera had appeared beside Tsuna, gripping the brunet's hands in a worried manner. "Did he stab you?"

"E-eh? Gokudera-kun—no! It was just a static shock."

"Let me see!"

Tsuna was positively flushing a delicate shade of pink as he allowed his best friend to hold his hand. Gokudera seemed to be holding on for a longer time than needed, and Enma couldn't help but notice the uncomfortable pink colour spreading in his friend's cheeks. "I'm…I'm alright, Gokudera-kun." Prying his hands from his friend's, he turned to Enma with a glowing face just as the bell rang. "Are you having lunch with us again?"

This time, Enma remembered where he was supposed to go. "Detention."

Tsuna's shoulders fell in disappointment. "Detention again? Hibari-san must be really out to get you. He never has more than one detention for one person, unless you did something horrible."

"Or maybe he hates me," Enma voiced out, propping his chin into the palm of his hand. Though, even as he said so, he didn't believe his own words. If Hibari hated him, he would have bitten him to death yesterday when they were alone.

"Or maybe he likes you," Yamamoto stated, grinning from ear to ear. At this, Enma blushed a furious shade of red, and Yamamoto waved his hand. "Well, you never know, right?"

This was just making Enma even more confused. Hibari…liking him? Not likely. Standing up from his chair, he shrugged his backpack onto his shoulder.

"Well, we're in the library after lunch whenever you're done," Tsuna said, warily examining Enma's beaten-up form. The brunet wasn't so sure the other could survive another encounter with Hibari's tonfa. The redhead bobbed his head up and down to show that he understood, and then he strode out the door, shuffling the opposite way of the exit doors, where everyone else was heading. How he wished he could have one normal lunch for once.

If he could recall back, the two days that he had been here had not been normal at all.

The hallways were silent now; the Reception was in a secluded place in the school: third floor, and it was the room furthest from the stairs. As he turned the corner, once again, he was met with a surprise. There was a boy, probably a senior, who had his arms crossed and his frame was leaning against the wall like he had been waiting for Enma the whole time.

Well, that wasn't creepy at all. He didn't even know who this was.

Enma hesitated in stepping forwards, and when the male caught sight of him, he advanced, causing the frail redhead to back up. The taller boy laughed harshly. "Ah, what a wimp. So the other idiots were right when they said they got a coward to do their dirty work for them." The redhead had a strong feeling that he was with the other bullies. Their leader? The student had a shallow scar that crossed from one cheek, across the bridge of his nose, and to the other side of his face. With blond hair that was clipped up, the boy looked quite daunting; he smirked as he examined Enma, who was trembling in front of him.

Enma jutted his bottom lip out, slightly offended by the first part of the other's sentence. He stayed still anyway, watching the other's feet suspiciously. "Progress? It's only been two days." He found that he was able to say more when there was less of a crowd.

"So I'm guessing you have nothing, then," the boy drawled. He stepped forward, and Enma flinched back again.

"Are you the leader?"

The male let out a sharp bark of laughter. "I'm not gonna hurt you, stupid. I'm not part of their little group. And my leader, Mukuro-sama, would never do something as idiotic as bullying you. It's a waste of time."

But you're not going to help me either… Enma thought miserably. The blond eyed him curiously before muttering disdainfully. "Y'know, I've no time to help kids like you, but have you thought of anything to save your own skin?"

Enma shook his head once, then something popped into his head. Not knowing why he would share this information with this stranger, he mumbled, "Well, Hibari-senpai seems to have a liking for Hibird."

"Hi-what?"

"…Hibird. His bird?"

Clearly, the blond had no idea what he was talking about as he was shooting Enma the strangest look ever. Then he clicked his tongue, deeming the subject unworthy of talking about. "Eh, whatever. I just came over to see what you were like. Pretty pathetic if you ask me!"

"Why are you here, then?" Enma mumbled.

"Why? Because Mukuro-sama told me to check up on you. Why he has such an interest in a peon like you, I have no idea." He stuck out his tongue jeeringly before stepping aside to walk away. Before turning the corner, he called back condescendingly, "Why don't you kidnap the bird, then, if you think it's going to do something?"

And with that, he was gone.

Enma was left staring at the Reception Room door. There were many things going through his head, like who was Mukuro-sama? And…kidnapping Hibird and giving him to the bullies? Would that work? Maybe.

Knock, knock!

No one answered. Enma tried rapping his knuckles against the door again, but still; no answer. Without further ado, and not wanting to be late for the second time for detention, Enma carefully swung the door open…only to find that Hibari wasn't even inside. A pallid glow filled the dim room; the window was slightly open, probably for Hibird to be able to fly in and out. Laughter from the teenagers outside floated into the room, and Enma wished more than ever that he was outside with Tsuna and his friends.

Opportunity knocked when a certain chirp ascended and filled the room with its presence.

The yellow bird seemed to sense Enma's intentions and it quickly flapped its wings to the opposite side of the room. Enma dropped the broom that he had been holding onto the side, taking a good glimpse around to see if anyone was watching. No one was there, so he was safe. Taking careful steps towards the animal, he watched as the bird flew away again, and landed on the black cabinet near Hibari's desk.

"Eh? You're making this difficult…" Enma mumbled to himself as he crossed over to the cabinet. He reached up on his tippy-toes, but due to his short height, he could not reach. After uselessly attempting to reach Hibird with his right arm, he gave up, and swiveled around to find a chair to stand on. Hibari's swivelly chair. Perfect.

Rolling it to the cabinet, he nearly slipped and fell when he propped his foot onto the cushiony seat. Hibird chirped in reproach, but Enma grasped the edge of the cabinet anyway to keep himself balanced. Hibird, surprisingly, stayed where he was, perhaps because it was curious to see what Enma was trying to pull off. Or maybe because it realized that even with Enma standing on a chair, his reach was still too short to grasp the fluffy yellow bird. Enma sighed, retracting his arm and propping his chin on the edge. "Can't you come here?"

Hibird seemed to give a little ruffle of its feathers; a definite answer of 'no'.

Enma gave a short huff of disappointment. Even the bird rejects me… His gaze dropped down to the cabinet before him, and before he dropped back down to the ground, he noticed something peculiar. The top drawer of the cabinet was slightly opened, but that wasn't what had caught his attention. On one of the brown folders inside, there were two words bolded: STUDENT INFORMATION.

Hibari Kyoya kept the files of all the students of the school? Enma stared at it for a bit, his mind working furiously. Did Hibari have an allergy? And would it be in there? Enma nearly fell off the chair just thinking of that possibility. Was it really that easy to be let off the hook? Casting a fearful glance at the door, he checked to make sure he was still the only one in the room before pulling the cabinet drawer open.

Searching for…H.

His vermilion eyes blinked as he passed through the E's, the F's, and the G's. Finally, he reached the H's. Hibari's name…was nowhere to be found. How strange. Would it be in the K's? Enma was just about to flip through when the aura in the room darkened once more. The only warning Enma received was the soft chirp emitted from the bird in front of him.

"…Herbivore, what… are you doing."

Like a deer trapped in headlights, Enma whirled around way too fast for his own good and the chair started rolling opposite of the cabinet. With need of a sense of balance, the redhead waved his arms in an attempt to stay still, but because of the failure in life that he was, his head hit the edge of the black filing cabinet and he fell to the floor with an unflattering crash. "Hnn…" Enma grasped his head, squeezing his eyes shut as the pain flooded into his mind.

Footsteps approached with a foreboding echo. Enma released his own head tentatively and peered up into Hibari's unwavering, cobalt eyes. I'm…in so much trouble… "I wasn't doing anything," the redhead tried to explain, but his words faltered as soon as he saw those stoic orbs flashing dangerously.

"Who said you could—"

"Hibari-san!"

Thank god for the person who barged into the room at that exact moment. Hibari's expression barely flickered as he turned around to face said intruder. "Kusakabe," he acknowledged in his deep voice. The latter took one long glance at the fallen redhead, to the open drawer with folders sticking out, to Hibari's deadpan expression; he was now wishing that he hadn't been the one to tell Hibari this bad news:

"…Someone has vandalized the school walls."

Hibari stiffened, and Enma immediately felt sorry for the person dumb enough to vandalize Hibari's beloved school walls. Maybe this way, he would be let off the hook? While Hibari went to deal with the other troublemaker, he would take this chance to run away. He was sorely mistaken, though; Hibari knelt down and drew something out of his pocket. It wasn't until he heard a sharp clank of unrelenting metal and felt the cold steel kissing his wrist that he realized he was now cuffed to the leg of the desk.

What…?

The Discipline Leader straightened up, regaining his composure. "I will deal with you later," he declared to the very lost and confused Enma before turning his heel. The redhead heard a low murmur just as the taller teenager left the premises. "Herbivore wants to be bitten to death, doesn't he?"

Enma hoped that he was talking about the vandalizing delinquent, and not him.

As the door clicked shut, Enma never felt so scared in his entire life. He had been beaten to near death by bullies before, and even been attacked by stray dogs wanting his food, but somehow, being stuck in Hibari's office, cuffed with no escape, seemed ten times more horrifying that those put together. His first thought was to whip out his cell phone and frantically press buttons, signaling for help to the first person that popped into his head.

"Skylark! I'm in so much trouble!"

He held onto the cell phone, holding it close to his chest as if it would save his life. It was weird, but he was expecting some comforting words from Skylark, something amongst the lines of 'You'll be okay', but knowing the kind of person he was just by texting him, it was unlikely. He was right.

"Dealing with enough trouble on my end. ._."

No help at all. Enma bit down on his bottom lip, staring at the screen as if doing so would change the words. Rejected twice that day. How nice.

Dreading the future outcome, Enma drew his knees to his chest; it was uncomfortable, since the metal handcuff was restricting most of his movements, but he did it anyway. He connected his forehead to his knees and sighed. And waited. He felt something grazing his feet, and slowly, he lifted his eyes to see Hibird perched onto his shoe. A melodic chirp calmed Enma's terrified heart faintly, and the redhead let a soft smile grace his features.

The door swung open.

Well, that had been a very quick death for the delinquent who did the vandalizing. Enma wondered if the boy was even still alive.

Hibari didn't even spare Enma half a glance as he strode in, his cool demeanor unfaltering. Enma kept a wary eye on him, curling his toes within his shoes. Hibird was still perched on his sneakers; it seemed like it was making itself comfortable. Enma was going to be sitting there for a while, apparently. Hibari crossed over the polished floors of the Reception Room and sank down into the couch. Propping his elbow on the armrest, he kept a steady stare on the flushed redhead.

"I will ask you once more: what were you doing?"

"Mmmh…" Enma's mumble could not be heard through the fabric of his own sweater being pressed against his mouth. After receiving the cold, inquiring look from the Discipline Leader, he lowered his hand, all the while thinking furiously of what to tell the scary teenager. "I just…I just wanted to see…"

"Don't tell me those herbivorous delinquents put you up to erase their school records."

"…E-eh?" Sure, why not. "…Um…yeah."

…Wait, but wouldn't that get him in trouble? He didn't even know the bullies' name to back up his story. However, Hibari didn't seem to want to question him further on the subject. The black-haired male relaxed into his seat, lulling his head back and closing his eyes slowly. Enma waited with growing dread; he didn't like the sudden silence in the room, and even Hibird had stopped chirping pleasantly.

"…Hibari-senpai, can you…?" Enma lifted his arm up, shaking his wrist to let the other know that he was still cuffed to the desk. Hibari gave a sharp shake of his head, and the redhead sighed, defeated.

"Why do you listen to those herbivores?"

"Huh?" Enma glanced up, but Hibari wasn't looking at him; even so, the redhead had a feeling that those words were directed to him. If there was any worry embedded in them, they were masked cleverly by the passiveness in his voice. Hibari stared at him, knowing that the other heard him perfectly, and he wasn't in any mood in repeating himself. Enma thought about it; why was he listening to those bullies? Because there was no one to protect him, and he didn't want to be beaten to death anymore. He wanted everything to stop, everything to end. The way things were looking, though, he had high doubts on that.

So Enma thought for a while before replying, "…I don't know." Noticing the sudden tension in the room, he decided to alter his answer a little bit. "Because I can't take care of myself. There's no point in fighting back."

Enma watched as Hibird flew up and nestled into the Discipline Leader's unruly raven hair. Even the bird was abandoning him now. Great.

"Kozato Enma, I find you more than slightly pathetic."

Thank you…?

Enma's head dropped back to his knees and he sniffled; the air inside the Reception Room was making his nose run, but Hibari mistook it as a sniffle from tears. There was something horrendously pitiful about this kid, and even if Hibari wanted to bite said herbivore to death, he was finding it rather difficult to do just that.

"Don't the weaklings have guardians?" The corner of Hibari's lip curled ever so slightly.

"…I don't have one." Enma's face remained buried in his arms. "…I wish I did."

…Useless herbivore.

Enma heard a soft sigh from in front and then the creak of the couch as someone lifted off it. His ears caught the metal tinkle of keys, and the next thing he knew, he indistinctly felt someone putting pressure against the handcuff on his wrist. He opened his eyes to see Hibari unlocking them. Surprised filled those vermilion irises, but Hibari ignored the look; he dropped the handcuffs to the side and stood up, arms crossed over his chest.

"This is the last time I'm letting you off. Keep yourself out of trouble."

Enma jutted his bottom lip out, keeping in any comments. If anything, he was in this trouble because Hibari was such a bitch to the teenagers that defied him. If it wasn't for him, Enma would be bullied normally, like on any regular basis. This was something different, and apparently, it was something he couldn't back out of. Out of common courtesy, Enma bowed his head and mumbled in a half-hearted, grateful tone.

"…Thank you."

And with that, he had darted out the door as if his life depended on it. The moment he was gone, Hibari scowled. It was a weird feeling; definitely not a feeling that arose often. Since when did he want to protect such herbivorous creatures? Why was Enma such an exception? It was infuriating him, and he allowed himself to fall back into the couch, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips. Sliding his cell phone out of his pocket, he clicked at his inbox, and replied again:

"Still in trouble?"

The reply was quick and short:

"…No. He let me off."

Hibari smirked; what? No punishment at all? Whoever let him off had been too nice. Then again, he couldn't say anything. He had done the same.

"Excuse me, could you get that book for me?"

Enma turned his head to see a girl batting her eyelashes at him. He blinked back at her; he had just come back from detention, and Tsuna had told him to wait here while he checked out a book. The redhead glanced up at the bookshelf that was not-so-inconspicuously taller than him as all bookshelves should be, and stared back skeptically at the girl. She started to explain, "I'm scared of heights, see? I thought you could use the ladder and get the book for me. It's the one on Important Things that Happened in the 1800's."

Enma shrugged; he had nothing better to do. This girl didn't seem like she was going to cause him any harm, anyway. "Sure." Taking hold of the ladder, he vigilantly stepped up. Another step, and then another. It never really occurred to Enma whether or not he was scared of heights, so he just kept climbing. He reached the top step; he could see the top of the bookshelf now. He scanned over the titles on the spines of these worn-out library books, then he took a double take. "There's no…"

Oh, no.

With growing horror, he looked down to see two of the bullies from the previous days grinning up at him. "Gotcha~"

"What an idiot. He really fell for it."

The ladder shook as one of them grabbed it roughly. By instinct, Enma's hands shot out and held onto the top of the bookshelf, hoping in everything that he believed in that it would not fall from his weight and crush him. Why did he believe the girl? Even if she was a girl, he shouldn't have – sometimes, the girls were the meanest ones. They were so deceptive. Enma nearly cried out when the ladder was completely pulled out from underneath him and his feet were left dangling. He jerked his head back to see where the librarian was, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"HIIIIE! Enma-kun! What are you doing on top of the bookshelf?"

The poor victim had pulled himself onto the shelf, ducking his head a little so that he would not hit the ceiling. He gulped at the brunet; now that he saw how high up he was, he wasn't so sure about jumping back down, which had been his earlier plan. The bullies were guffawing with triumphant laughter, clearly amused and feeling victorious about a simple and dirty-played trick. Even Yamamoto was looking rather worried about the redhead's predicament.

"How'd the idiot get himself up there?" Gokudera scowled, giving the bullies a steadfast glare. One backed up a considerate distance, but the other was still too busy laughing to even care.

Tsuna was frantically moving towards the shelf, but halfway, he seemed to change his mind and took a step back, peering around imploringly to see if anyone was willing to help. The group was soon attracting a little crowd, but even then, the librarian was too occupied with a phone call. Enma wished adults would pay more attention sometimes.

"I will bite you all to death for this abominable crowding." There was a chilling pause, then, "You really can't stay out of trouble, can you?"

The bullies stopped chortling, and Enma, for once, was filled with happiness when he saw Hibari approaching him. Indefinable happiness, actually, and it scared him a little. It was like his heart was swelling up in his body, and a small smile pulled at his lips. The first smile he had cracked the entire day. Strange.

Hibari wasn't even remotely pleased with this sight, so, no, he did not return the smile.

"Who's responsible for this?" His voice was low, dangerous. No one dared to answer him, and no one even dared to point fingers at the people they knew were responsible. The girl that had told Enma to climb the shelf had mysteriously disappeared. "Herbivore, come down."

Enma immediately shook his head, eyes widening. Tsuna opened his mouth to protest, perhaps to tell Hibari that it wasn't as easy as he thought to jump down from a high bookcase. The brunet thought better of it, and kept silent. Hibari's expression darkened. "I'm not going to catch you. Jump. Now." The Discipline Leader pointed at the empty space at the ground below Enma.

Again, Enma shook his head, letting crimson bangs fall over his eyes.

Scowling icily, Hibari turned around and took one step as if to leave. The redhead's heart instantaneously sank; abandoned again? He couldn't deal with this anymore. Closing his eyes miserably, he obediently swung his legs over the side of the shelf, though his fingers were still gripping onto it for dear life. If he fell, he would blame it on Hibari for not being there to catch him.

"HIIIE! What are you doing?"

Enma saw the ground flying up to meet his face as he fell, but before anything could happen, he saw a flurry of brown hair and pain was the only thing he could comprehend in the confusion of human limbs and a few books. And then all went still. Enma blinked at the brunet who was on top of him. Somehow, they both managed to roll until they stopped into a position where Tsuna was awkwardly face-planted into his friend's neck, and his legs were suggestively straddled across Enma's groin. A few of the high school girls giggled in an discomfited way and turned their heads away, while most of the others gawked.

Because, no, this was not awkward at all. Enma continued to blink confusedly at Tsuna, who seemed at loss of what to say or do. Over by the side, Gokudera burned a shade of impossible red at the sight before him and nearly buckled into a dead faint if it wasn't for Yamamoto, who caught him before he could collapse on some poor innocent girl.

"Um…" Enma murmured, shifting uncomfortably.

"Er…" Tsuna's face started turning a deeper tint of pink. An embarrassing squeak escaped his lips as he was abruptly lifted off of Enma; with strength everyone knew that Hibari possessed, the Discipline Leader was holding Tsuna by the back of his shirt. The poor brunet's feet were dangling off the ground, and he looked absolutely terrified at the moment. "H-Hibari-san…eep!" Tsuna was suddenly tossed to the side; thank god for Gokudera waking up immediately and diving in his friend's way so that he could catch him.

Though Hibari's dark bangs veiled his eyes, Enma could already tell that the teenager was not happy at all. With what, he had no idea. Swallowing thickly, he peered up at the taller male and closed his eyes when he saw Hibari reaching for him. He was shocked to feel a hand grasping the front of his shirt and forcing him to stand up on his feet.

"Get going," Hibari hissed testily at the bullies, who had blanched considerably after the appearance of a certain Discipline Leader. They scrambled away like terrified dogs with their tails between their legs. Enma felt content, but when his vermilion orbs met with Hibari's, his own expression blanked and paled as well. They stared.

The crowd started to disperse, what with the tension spreading in the library.

And they continued to stare. Enma decided to speak up, "Hibari-senpai, you've got your hand on my shirt." He nodded down to the teenager's fist clenched on the fabric of his uniform.

Hibari finally rolled his eyes; nonetheless, he released the redhead and the boy stumbled back, unaware that he had been kept balanced because of Hibari. Enma stumbled back further when the latter took a threatening step towards him, and he soon found himself backed up against a wall. His eyes darted left and right, and he realized that Tsuna and company had fled; probably not because the brunet wanted to abandon him, but perhaps it was because the librarian finally decided to shoo everyone away. Everyone except the two of them, that is.

"Kozato Enma, you are incapable of taking care of yourself. I will bite you to death. Honestly."

Enma bowed his head, ashamed. Did he have to hear that twice in a day?

"You are distracting and troublesome; something that I will have to change." Silence. "You've got ten seconds before I change my mind."

Huh? The redhead blinked blearily at the figure that was so unbearably close to him, and he found that his eyes had dropped to Hibari's chest. He thought hard; what did Hibari mea—oh.

"Hibari-senpai…you're going to protect me?" Enma ogled the taller disbelievingly. Somehow, he already knew that an icy smirk would appear sooner or later.

"Interesting herbivore. No, I'm not protecting you. I'm protecting the appearance of this school. Making sure that you do not bleed to death on school property would already help; I'll be keeping an eye on you."

Butterflies flitted inside Enma's stomach as he heard those words. His eyes widened, gaping at the male's back as Hibari started to walk away. In his own little way, he had just said he agreed to protect him. Biting down on his bottom lip uncertainly, he wondered if Hibari was really going to keep his word. Knowing the Discipline Leader, he probably would, and for multiple unknown reasons, Enma couldn't figure out why on earth Hibari would want to protect a weakling like him.

Maybe Yamamoto was right. Maybe Hibari liked him. As a friend.

Enma couldn't get the feeling out of his head, even now when he was at home. It was vexing, and the butterflies weren't leaving, either. He pressed his face into his homework, ignoring the fact that pencil marks could easily get onto his face. Something was definitely bothering him, and it was just this one fact. He heard from his old school classmates that when someone had…well, a crush on someone, they would usually feel butterflies in their stomach.

…Enma suddenly felt a little nauseous.

He wanted to ask for advice. Ah, of course. Who else better than his oh-so-almighty text-friend. Enma was still slightly miffed that he had been held off earlier this day, but he decided to forgive said person. It wasn't like he could have done anything, anyway; Hibari would have bitten him to death.

"Skylark, have…"

Enma paused in the middle of his texting for a while, thinking long and hard before continuing:

"Skylark, have you ever liked someone before?"

Hibari's eyes flashed at the screen, slightly annoyed by the herbivorous, not to mention out-of-nowhere, question. Yet it wasn't like he was doing anything important in particular, so he decided to answer.

"What kind of question is that."

A smile appeared for only a second on Enma's face before disappearing like a blown-out candle. He started to sit up on his seat.

"I mean, have you ever liked asdmhasdkj"

Enma had accidentally dropped his phone; the letters pressed were his attempts to catch it before it could land on the desk. It landed into his pencil case with a loud clatter, and somehow, it had managed to send the message as well. Hastily snatching it back up, he started to press into the screen before Skylark could get annoyed by the incoherent reply.

"Oops. I meant: have you ever liked a … boy?"

When he didn't get a reply right away, he smiled teasingly. This was slightly amusing to him, even though he had none to little knowledge about boys liking boys. He texted again in a joking way; he realized that he must have been spamming the other person with messages:

"I'm guessing you like one now."

He should have known that he shouldn't have asked.

"Are you done yet?"

Enma covered a small smile with his hand.

"Yes. ;D"

Deciding that he should probably change the topic before Skylark would finally get fed up and stop texting him, he thought furiously for something else to talk about. 'How's the weather?' seemed ridiculous, so he trashed that idea.

"I think I'll be alright at school now."

His thoughts immediately went to Hibari and the event that had happened previous that day. Unbeknownst to him, his cheeks flushed a light pink. It was odd, having the hot-tempered teenager watching out for him. It was nice for a change, but still – his phone started to buzz against the wooden surface of his desk.

"Why?"

Enma replied,

"Someone decided to step up. Though, would you protect me if you could?"

No answer. Enma's thoughts strayed back to the stoic Discipline Leader.

Alright, so Hibari Kyoya proved himself to be a little bit different than Enma's first impression of him. The boy let his pen drop on his homework and sighed, at ease. Resting his head into his arms, he thought back; the butterflies that jumbled about in his stomach when he had that encounter with Hibari in the library hadn't been normal at all. He wondered what could have caused it. Curious about it, yet completely tired at the same time, Enma couldn't help it when sleep consumed the rest of his thoughts. He didn't even hear his phone buzzing pleasantly beside him.

"I've got my hands full already."

AN: To anyone who is reading Hell Cafe, TML, or SoS, just so you all know, I will not be posting until a month or so, because of exams and whatnot. I really must study now. ;_; Exams are coming up and I'm freaking out like cra~azy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, anyway. To whoever has exams as well, good luck!

All mistakes will be edited later on when I have more time. D:
Ti amo!