ZirciX: No, no, Dino's definitely not smart enough to confirm that Kyouya's Nami by sending him a virus. It was just an unlucky coincidence, or their different virus protectors. I really like M.M. so that's why I included her in there. She wasn't really bitching, just being the lovely younger sister. Every sister has the right to dislike their brother's girlfriend/spouse/whatever. Aww, really? I'm sure your sister is lovely! I'm basing Dino's brotherly antics somewhat on my brother. I'm proud to say I've never fought with my brother, too! Never in our life. :D PandoraMagic: Damn right he'll never tell. TheFeyRa: Bitchy aunt is always needed. I personally love M.M. so. xD;; You can imagine whatever you want, my dear friend, whatever you want. You'll beta for me, really? I'd love that! Just PM me and I'll get in touch when I can! dead or alive0013: In the beginning I was going to have Dino find out that it's Kyouya first, but then since it's not from his POV it would've been... boring. And everyone always makes it a one-sided love on Dino's part, it should be more Kyouya's! ayameD18: Oh, man, thank you! That means a lot! I love you for reviewing! :D SkylarkLove: I shall teach you my ways! Basically, I post a private entry on LJ and then post comments on that with the story. The character limit for each comment on my phone is 2,300 characters, so I have to do lots and lots of comments. D8 It's a nice way to spend class, travelling, and when my Internet is down. The Red Undertaker: Oho! I always like trying to use new things in my stories. :D No idea. I have no clue whatsoever. Thank you! Eyes17k: Yey! axelluver300: Thank you! acetatedbubble: /blushing insanely from your review. Thank you very much! I wasn't sure at all whether it was coming across that way, so thank you for saying that it does and stopping me from worrying any more. Takoiumegane: I'm sorry for the slow update! :D Munchiek: I'm not too sure where but in one of the chapters Nami says that a girl confessed their love for "her" and since it didn't sound like Nami was disgusted, Count Blonde assumed "she" was lesbian. Munchiek: Haha, thank you! Eloda: Whoa, thank you very much! :D PuroCieloFiamme: /shoves head into bucket to stop blushing. Thank you! That's a huge compliment. O_O;;

家庭教師ヒットマン REBORN! © 天野明

Chapter nine—Endearing

"You can't hide for long, you know." Nagi gave me a disapproving look, her hands falling to grip her hips. "And your parents are going to figure out you're here, too. They're only downstairs."

Her brother didn't know I was here as well. I'd managed to creep up to her room without so much as a second thought, and Nagi certainly wasn't complaining about my presence. She'd been surprised before standing aside and allowing me inside of her home, not bothering to call her brother or her parents to warn them of my presence. Was it because of my expression, maybe? I subtly raised my hand to my cheek, as if checking that I knew what kind of face I was making. Although I was sure that I was still in shock—though definitely not as much as yesterday—I could wrap my mind around what I had found out.

I closed my eyes, breathing through my nose, as I told myself not to think about it. I'd sought out someone to talk to so I could distract myself.

"I know." A distraction was what I needed. I'd somehow made it through a restless night of sleeping in the same room as him, tossing and turning and resisting the urge to walk to the bathroom. I'd felt physically sick on more than a few occasions. Not so long before I'd found out the truth I had been lecturing him and Haru, saying that flirting with family was sick, and yet I was doing the exact same thing. I'd gotten myself into the same mess, maybe worse since I still couldn't wrap my head around it.

Nagi's tone was uncertain as she asked, "Do you want to... read a book or something?"

"No, thanks," I answered. She shifted uncomfortably on one foot, shifting her weight as her eye darted around the room. "Are you used to the eye patch yet?"

Her hand instantly flew up to touch the material covering her eye. "No," she admitted, heat rising to her cheeks. "I keep walking into walls."

"In front of people?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Unfortunately," Nagi confessed, blushing from head to toe. "I had to sit in the infirmary for most of the day on Friday."

"You're going to end up walking into someone and injuring yourself," I had to resist the urge to laugh, "or even them." Nervously, Nagi shifted her weight again whilst averting her eye. Her reaction only made me realised that it had probably already helping, and I was only rubbing salt into her wound. Instead of apologising, like any decent person would have done, I cleared my throat and let my eyes look around her room instead. It had changed since the last time I'd been inside—rather than the pink shade of paint the walls had before, it was a light purple without any posters or any sort of decorations. There were a few shelves on one side, a bookcase on the other, and that was about it apart from her wardrobe. "What happened to your desk?"

"I gave it to Mukuro," she explained with a shrug. "His last one broke so I said he could have mine."

"You're too nice to him." I scowled. "This is why he's annoying as Hell."

"Don't you normally say he's always been like that?" Nagi corrected me with a smile, amusement clear within her iris.

"That's probably the reason I've tried to drown him over the years." She stifled a laugh, covering her mouth to mask any noise that left her lips. "Is Mukuro in his room?"

As soon as Nagi had said that he was most likely downstairs, I decided it was time to mess things up in their house for a bit. I smirked and she shot me a panicked expression as I waltzed into his room, dumping any objects that were on top of the desk onto the bed. Ten minutes later, and a panicking Nagi, still, I'd just about pushed the desk back into her room. The silencing look I shot her worked perfect and after that, it was back it its rightful place with her stuff upon it. We could hear footsteps not a few minutes after, and I could indentify them easily from over the years.

Nagi shot me a scared look as I pushed myself up to sit on the end of the desk. The door swung open as Mukuro asked, "Nagi have you seen—" He paused, blinking. "That's my desk."

"Nagi's desk," I corrected him, smirking.

"Oh, come on." He groaned, narrowing his eyes at me. "I'm sure Nagi told you that she gave me the desk, Kyouya. Was there really any need to steal it back?"

I stuck my nose up further in the air, crossing my arms. "I'm sure you bribed her."

"Sharing is caring." He laughed, though it surely wasn't from amusement. "We learnt that together when we were little, didn't we? I definitely have better grades than you."

"Oh, yes." I rolled my eyes. "Remembering useless information like that definitely means your grades are better."

The Rokudo household was oddly welcoming. Elena, of course, was happy to see that Mukuro had a relatively normal friend—if you could have even classed me as that—and didn't batter an eyelash when she saw that I went into Nagi's room first. Since their father was busy with work and therefore not home for dinner, I had been invited to stay with the offer of sleeping on the spare mattress within Mukuro's room. As welcoming as they were, I'd excused myself the past few nights and slept within the guest room within my own home, grabbing clothes from mine and Dino's room and then disappearing for school quickly.

I was forcing myself to focus on other things, and namely at that moment it was school. I let my pen draw an endless amount of loops in the margin, glancing up every now and then to see if I was missing anything important.

Dino was probably worried. I hadn't held a proper conversation with him—one that was more than greetings—for at least four days. My laptop still probably had a virus on it, and I was more than thankful that the starting screen required a password. If he had got up and left from anger and then proceeded to be home as little as possible for the next few days, I would have been offended. But Dino wasn't like me, so did he think I was just busy? I couldn't avoid him forever, and I certainly couldn't avoid my thoughts, too.

Online I was happy to receive a message from him, and in real life I couldn't wait for him to leave me alone. My reactions were completely different, but now I had to think properly. I normally pushed Dino away to type away either on my phone or on my laptop; technically, I was pushing him away to talk to him elsewhere. Would I do the same online now? My stomach felt uncomfortable at the thought. One hand gripped my thigh as I sat still, the other continuing to attempt to get rid of all the ink of my pen. I'd almost considered Count Blonde as more than a friend, though I could never tell him that, and was certainly aware of how often my thoughts had turned to him.

I couldn't do that any more. I had to create a distance between us, as if weaning myself off of a drug, until it was a normal relationship. A normal and platonic relationship. Dino was my brother and that was all he was ever going to be, and I had to keep that thought in my mind at all times.

If we were ever going to have a normal relationship, that meant I could go and talk to him with an ulterior motive; or, rather, keep the ulterior motive to myself. I was just going to see whether I could look him in the eyes without feeling sick to my stomach from my behaviour. He was still oblivious and it was best that he remained like that forever. For as long as we were living in our home, he was never going to find out that I was Namibird.

As I walked down the hallway, my hand automatically reached into my pocket. I was avoiding Dino so, naturally, I'd been avoiding him online, too. My phone had been left in my room since the first night, it had probably ran out of battery by this point in time. Had Dino been worrying about Namibird as well as me, or was he only focusing on one? My eyebrows furrowed as my stomach felt uncomfortable again. It wasn't everyday that I felt the need to be jealous of myself.

No, I told myself, my feelings are completely platonic.

Of course there were some weird looks when I was walking down the corridor, peering into different classrooms. I'd never asked what class he was in, and he'd certainly never asked me the same question. And yet he'd been able to turn up at lunch to speak to me without any sort of information. When I looked into another class, my eyes latched onto him quickly; he was the only blonde within the room. Rather than walking straight into the room, I waited outside for him to venture out.

After most of his class had walked out to go wherever they usually do through lunch, I was becoming impatient. I tapped my feet on the floor waiting, glancing down at my twitching fingers. Was I making the right decision by being there to see him?

When there were finally footsteps beside me again, it wasn't who I was looking for. My head snapped up to whether it was Dino, and instead of meeting his brown irides, I met a pair of grey ones instead. I recognised the male; he was the one I often saw Dino walking with around the school, so his friend, it was.

"Oh, I know you," he announced, saying the shortened version of my thoughts. "Are you looking for Dino? He's going to be ecstatic."

"Wait," I muttered, stopping them from turning around and fetching him. "I'm not. Forget it."

It was a mystery whether luck was on my side or not. I'd started to walk away when I heard, "Ryouhei? I think I lost my phone."

I hated how the hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up as soon as I'd heard him. It certainly wasn't a normal reaction and there was a chance that he wouldn't notice me if I just walked away. His friend didn't even know my name, I bet.

"Dude, you put it in your pencil case so the teacher wouldn't see it." Ryouhei chortled, clearly amused by Dino's memory. Without realising it, I'd slowed down my pace to hear his reaction.

"Oh, yeah." Dino laughed as well, though it sounded forced. "It was pointless in the end, I should have just paid attention."

"You might want to pay attention now, then," Ryouhei said grinning, no doubt grinning. "Someone came to see you."

I wasn't a coward.

It was fine if he noticed me. I had to wonder what his reaction would have been, though. "Really?" Dino asked, clearly surprised. I counted the moments passing by in my head before he called, "Kyouya!"

I was a coward.

"Kyouya, wait," he demanded, immediately reaching out and grasping my wrist. I bit down onto my lip before looking over my shoulder, noticing that his eyes were still wide with surprise. "Don't leave already."

"You didn't have to leave your friend," I muttered, snatching my wrist back from his grasp. "It's rude."

"You're more important than him." Dino grinned. Why on Earth was I nervous about seeing him properly? I still was, and I was willing myself not to let it show. "Family comes before anything else, you should know that."

"Even if I do, I've never had to think about it before."

"I see," Dino murmured, "is that why you've been with your friends for the past few days?" Before I could reply, he started to ramble. "You were probably staying in for me, right? Wait, no, that makes me sound really arrogant." He ran his fingers through his hair, at a loss for words. "Thank you for staying in with me for a while, Kyouya."

"I didn't do it for you." He furrowed his eyebrows uncertainly. "I just didn't have a reason to go out before." As soon as I'd said that, I realised that it could have been taken the wrong way. "Before you even ask, we're just friends."

From how visibly relieved Dino looked, my lips curled into a frown. Was he just being protective? Of course he was, and I had to remember that. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know why."

He blinked before smiling softly. "Are you home for dinner today?"

"I don't think so." Nagi had asked me to help her, so I supposed that meant she was going to thank me with dinner; her usual way of showing her thanks. "Why?"

"It's lonely without you, you know," Dino announced, still smiling softly, although it was only a small curve of his lips.

"I've just been busy."

"I'm guessing you can't make time for me?" His smile became strained, and I was aware that we were still standing in the middle of a hallway. I shuffled back and leaned against a wall, not surprised that Dino joined me. "You don't like me as much as I thought you did."

"I'll be home," I proclaimed, biting down on my lip. Dino's reaction was to grin widely before wrapping his arms around my waist, his hair brushing my cheek. "Dino," I muttered in disapproval, trying hard to ignore that the tips of my ears were starting to burn. To any passer by—there had been a few, as we were still where anyone could see—it might have looked wrong, especially since no one knew that we were really related. "Dino, don't."

"It's just a hug," he replied happily, proceeding to embarrass me more by nuzzling his face against my hair. "It's not like we're kissing in broad daylight."

But that didn't mean I wasn't close to imagining doing that with a faceless him. "Maybe I don't want you to be hugging me."

"Well you used to resort to violence," Dino said smugly, most likely reminiscing. "You've clearly calmed down enough to be able to handle a hug now."

"If you don't want any bruises, get off of me now," I threatened him, irritation leaking into my tone. My demand had worked within seconds; something about my voice had caused him to listen to me, for once, and made it so he took a small step away from me. "Good."

"So do you want to help me cook tonight?" he asked, swiftly changing the topic. I raised my eyebrow at him and Dino simply shrugged, smiling softly once again.

"I want the food to be edible, so I have to."

Dino openly laughed, grinning widely, before he agreed with me. "Yeah, that's true." He chortled to himself. "See you later." And just like the time we'd spoken whilst walking to school, Dino kissed my forehead before leaving to rejoin his friend.

After passing Mukuro a note to give to Nagi once he was home I was still feeling guilty. I still had no idea what she had wanted help with, and after the last time I had ditched her for Dino, even though I hadn't realised it for awhile, I felt even worse. I reached for my phone as I sat on my bed and quickly typed her a message, saying that I'd be able to help her at any other time. Although I wasn't expecting an answer straight away, I was still staring down at my blank screen a few minutes later.

I'd been able to talk to Dino in real life properly, so I assumed I'd be just as fine online. I logged onto the instant messaging program on my phone—still irked that my laptop was unavailable for use—and bit down on my lip when I saw that he was online.

Namibird: Hello.

Dino wasn't even home yet, so why was he on his phone?

Count Blonde: Where the hell have you been, Nami? I've been trying to stay on all day in case you logged on!

Namibird: Am I not allowed to be offline? This is an awfully nice welcome back, by the way.

So he was worried. I'd only been offline for three days and he'd decided to stay on to see whether I came on at an odd time; the idea of him doing that had the corner of my lips twitching.

"Platonic," I reminded myself aloud.

Count Blonde: You made me worried. Did I say something to offend you or anything? I couldn't send you any offline messages, by the way. That's why there was no spam waiting for you.

Namibird: It sounds like you were lost without me. My Internet was down, that's all. I couldn't even get it on my phone for awhile.

Conunt Blonde: Why don't you steal the connection from school? I know you can because I do. I still can't figure out who you are, Nami. Have you got any more clues to give me?

Too many questions too fast. I managed to stare at the screen for a few minutes before shaking my head, telling myself that it was only natural that he was worried. Anyone would be if their friend disappeared without notice. It still didn't help that I was pretending to be a girl, but for him to not know, I had to keep it up. There weren't that many options left for me; if I came clean and said that I was, in fact, male then there was more of a chance of him finding out that it was me. I was just being cautious and stupid.

Namibird: Don't you think I should be paying attention to class instead? You should have been, too. Why should I be giving you more clues? There's no reason for us to meet.

I sounded like a bitter child.

Count Blonde: You're a good friend of mine, of course I want to meet you! Should I give you one, then? All right, I shall!

My fingers were typing before I knew what I was doing.

Namibird: I don't need you to. I have a pretty good idea about who you are.

I held my breath, waiting for his reply.

Count Blonde: You do?

Namibird: I can count the natural blondes within our school on one hand.

Dinner that night was a disaster. Dino had tried to surprise me by sneaking inside of the house and started by himself. The only thing that gave him away was the smell of burning that came from downstairs whilst I was trying to read. He apologised profusely when I saved the meal by restarting from scratch and just letting him watch. He said that to make it up to me, he'd still get rid of the virus for me. And yet he hadn't asked why I'd stormed off, or anything at all regarding that time. I gnawed on the inside of my cheek when he mentioned it and made sure that I was hiding anything I didn't want him to see on my laptop—at least the best I could with it freezing up—before handing it over to him.

Ten minutes later I had a perfectly fine laptop and a smug brother, grinning from ear to ear.

All I wanted to say was thank you but what came out instead was, "The way you're smiling is disgusting."

"You're welcome." He continued to grin.

I decided that the best way I'd make it through each day with my sanity in tact was to think of Dino, online and offline, as two different people. The one I saw in front of me was one, whilst the idiot typing online—the one I was more fond of—was someone completely different. I just had to block out what I'd found out, and I was sure that I could to it. It would just take some practice.

Count Blonde: Do you want to ask each other questions through the day? Thursday is my worst day at school, so it would be nice to keep myself distracted.

Ever since my phone had made a reappearance, Mukuro was shooting me odd looks at any moment possible. It hadn't been so bad the day before, but that could have been because I was distracted with Count Blonde being ridiculous and complaining about what was happening in his classes. I hadn't revealed any information about mine and simply chose to mock him. I'd made it home before Dino could attempt to make dinner again, instead helping our mother instead.

"Made up with your boyfriend, then?" Mukuro asked, leaning forward to rest his chin on his palm. He'd raised his eyebrows mockingly.

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You're attached to your phone again, Kyouya," he pointed out, grinning like a crocodile. "So Nagi and I are unimportant to you now, are we not?"

"When were you ever important?" I snorted to cover the fact that he'd practically hit the nail on the head. "In case you didn't notice I was with Nagi more than you. It's always going to be that way."

Namibird: Go for it. I'm assuming you ask one and then I ask after I've answered? Don't you dare ask my name, though. I'll hunt you down and hurt you.

"You shouldn't play favourites, you know." He smirked, even though his eyes had widened slightly. When we were younger we did spend more time together, although our meetings usually involved some sort of fighting. I hadn't fought him in a long time, not since we'd meet acquainted with Nagi. "It hurts my feelings."

"Feelings? You have none." I shot him an incredulous look. "You always barge into her room with some ridiculous reason, anyway. Why don't you just admit that you want to talk to me?"

"Annoying you is what I do." He hummed. "That's how I make it through my day."

Count Blonde: Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not that stupid, I still want to find you by myself. What's your favourite subject?

"Is it?" I murmured, tapping away whilst leaning back on my chair. "So hacking into my accounts get you through, too? That's what you've been doing for most of this year." He hadn't done it for a few weeks, though, not since he'd been introduced to Dino on an instant messenger. Had they been talking to each other often? I hadn't bothered to ask, much less bring the topic up around Mukuro as I knew he'd start to bug me about it. I bit down on my lip, shooting the male beside me a dirty look.

Namibird: Maths. Do you still talk to Pineapple?

"It's too bad I agreed not to hack into them any more." Mukuro pushed his lower lip out, pretending to be sad. "You've blocked me everywhere so I can't speak to you, too. Where am I supposed to get my entertainment from now?" he droned on, obviously frustrated. "I've been dying lately."

"Get a hobby," I snapped.

Count Blonde: Only a bad friend would continue to talk to them, right? So don't worry, I don't. What classes have you failed before?

Namibird: Gym and music. Do you miss your old school?

Do you miss your old life? I corrected myself within my thoughts. He wouldn't be able to read through the lines and answer that question; I'd have to ask Dino directly, when I could see his face, if he was ever going to read between the lines. Did he regret moving here and meeting me? He was always reassuring me that he wanted to be here, sometimes subtly and sometimes through his actions, but I didn't know whether to believe it. As of late he had been relying on touch to get his point across, and his actions were slowly becoming more than I could handle. The embraces were one thing, but with his kissing my forehead whenever he could, I had to wonder how he was raised.

Count Blonde: I don't. I'm only in contact with one or two friends from back then, and now I get to me with my brother, my parents, and I was able to meet you through this. Would you be freaked out if I said you're my best friend? I really do look forward to talking to you.

"Well, there goes your opportunity to copy my homework for next week." Mukuro stuck his nose further up into the air, frowning in mock offence whilst I willed myself to get rid of the rising heat on my face. "You'll be too busy with your boyfriend to do anything. Your online and offline boyfriend, that is."

"It's taken you this long to announce that you think I'm cheating?" I sneered.

Throwing his head back to laugh, Mukuro was smirking widely when he finally looked me in the eyes. "So you are dating one of them."

"I'll leave being a whore to you." I shot him a glare. "No, I am not dating anyone, thank you. I wouldn't."

"You're not dating?" He raised an eyebrow, the arch seeming to be innocent. "Then who is Dino to you, and that guy that you've been messaging lately?"

I could hardly say they were the same person, let alone that they slept in the same room as me. "...Friends?" My answer came out more as a question making me want to grimace. Of course I was hesitant about announcing it aloud; as soon as the one I was claiming to be my friend found out who I was, our relationship would change completely.

"You haven't lost your temper with them yet, then?" Mukuro blinked.

Namibird: I'm sure you're closer to someone other than me. We only speak sometimes, too, so don't get ahead of yourself. Were you lying when you said about... your sexual orientation?

Looking up from my phone, I kept a blank face as I proclaimed, "They aren't like you."

Placing a handful of seeds into Hibird's food bowl, I gnawed on my lower lip. I hadn't looked back to see whether I'd received a reply or not ever since I'd been talking to Mukuro. It could have been since I was anxious to see what the answer was or that I had crossed the line. He hadn't mentioned about the time he thought I was attracted to girls ever again, and yet there I was bringing up just a small comment he'd made.

"Screw it," I muttered, reaching into my pocket.

Count Blonde: Oh, don't be like that now. I wasn't lying but that doesn't mean I'll be a very good gay best friend. I won't watch musicals with you or tell you whether your outfit looks okay. Sorry, Nami, but that's just a bit weird. How did it go with that girl who said she loved you?

The front door opened and from the taps on the floor, it was Mother wearing her heels. "Hey, Kyouya," she greeted me as she reached into the fridge for a bottle of water. I nodded in greeting, my lip twitching in amusement as she searched for the band within her hair and pulled it out as quickly as possible. Messing her hair up with her fingertips, she sighed in relief. "That's better."

It was rare that she was home that early. I'd probably only just walked through the door when the car had pulled up on the driveway. "Welcome home."

"Thank you." I wasn't able to get a word in before her phone started to ring. "Hello?"

I tuned out whatever she was talking about, choosing to lean against the counter and reply to Count Blonde before making my way upstairs. I gnawed on my lower lip—a habit that I surely needed to break before there was any permanent damage left—and debated whether to be honest or not. Haru hadn't told him about the accidental confession, had she? If I were her I would've kept the slip up to my grave. She wouldn't have gone spouting all of the embarrassing things she had done, right? The only other person, that I knew of, that knew about it was that Kyouko girl. Maybe I needed to hunt her down.

Namibird: I wasn't going to ask you to watch a musical with me. You mean the girl that made you assume that I was lesbian? No, nothing has happened. Nothing will ever happen. I'm perfectly straight and I'm not even friends with her. Are you interested in anyone since you've moved?

The message had been sent before I could take it back. I was just causing my stomach to feel uncomfortable; I was sick, purposely rubbing the fact that we were crossing the line in. My ears were burning in embarrassment as I covered my mouth with my hand, resisting the urge to groan at myself. Dino would be back at any moment soon—was I supposed to be able to look in his eyes without any guilt? Not only was I deceiving him, I was delving for information just to appease myself.

"Kyouya," Mother called when I was just about to walk up the stairs. I leaned over the banister, raising an eyebrow. "Dino's bringing a friend home so be nice, okay?"

I nodded, trying to hide my outraged expression. We'd discussed that we were going to keep us being related a secret, and yet he had the nerve to bring someone home. Unless it was Haru, who I doubted it was, then it meant I had to try and stay away from them or attempt to convince his friend that I was a family friend.

"That idiot," I murmured, perching myself on the end of my bed.

Rather than waiting around anxiously for Dino to come home with his friend, I sat with my back against the wall and loaded up a online game on my laptop. I'd missed out a couple of days of actions, and events, so I decided to focus on catching up so I wasn't behind when Dino finally logged on later, too. When I was trying to concentrate and heard the door opening instead, I reached into the desk drawer to reveal a pair of earphones, placing them in my ears and loading my music folder. As much of an idiot that Dino was, he surely couldn't have been stupid enough to lead his friend straight into our room.

As I shuffled to get comfy, the device digging into my thigh reminded me of what I was doing. I exited the game and shoved the laptop to the side, slowly illuminating the screen of the phone to see his reply. I tried to ignore how knots were being created within my stomach.

Count Blonde: Shit, really? I'm so sorry I jumped to that conclusion. I should have asked you a bit more carefully about your orientation. Sorry, Nami, I hope I haven't offended you. I'm focusing more on family than romance right now, actually. Do you have your eyes on anyone?

Namibird: You are an idiot but I wasn't expecting anything else. I don't. Haven't I already told you that I'm mostly alone? Do you still want to meet me?

There were noises come from downstairs; not the normal hushed voices, but a loud one that I could only just make it. The words were jumbled up so they weren't coherent, but the voice was certainly not Dino's. His friend was still downstairs, apparently, and I'd had just about enough. I walked stealthily onto the stairs, peering over the banister to see who was there. Their attention was on the television rather than behind them, meaning they wouldn't notice me.

"Man, most of these films I have in my house. My sister loves these genres," his friend announced, squatting down in front of a shelf. I recognised him instantly; he was the one I'd ran into whilst waiting for Dino to come out of his classroom "Especially this one." He held up a case.

"Haven't seen it," Dino replied, laughing. "I don't even know where most of these films have come from. Half are horror whilst the other are romance!"

"Oh, you forgot the musicals." Ryouhei chortled loudly. "There's quite a few here. I can sing along to most of them, Kyouko's a sucker for anything with a sing-a-long in it."

"Please, no," Dino cried out, taking a couple of steps back and falling onto the sofa. "My ex-girlfriend used to force me to watch those with her. I never want to see another film where teenagers burst into song for no reason again."

As I froze I could feel my expression transform into a negative expression. Ex-girlfriend? I thought bitterly. He'd said that he was absolutely sure that he was gay, so why on Earth was he talking about having a relationship with a girl? Was he just lying to me online—making sure that I wouldn't think of him in that way? If Dino had thought that faking his orientation was the easy way out, it certainly wasn't. There were many other details that he could have been lying about, many that he probably wouldn't admit to my face. Would I be able to coax them out of him as me or as Nami?

Who did he prefer or trust more?

Ryouhei laughing caught my attention. "I can tell she was a keeper."

"Oh, definitely." From his tone it was obvious that Dino had rolled his eyes. "I'll be back in a minute. I'm going to get a drink; do you want anything?"

"No, thanks, I'm still dying on the inside from that protein shake."

Dino made his way into the kitchen and I swiftly followed after him, careful not to attract his friends attention. He was reaching for a bottle of water while I opened the back door, grabbing onto his wrist and dragging him outside and closing the door behind me. His expression was bewildered as he looked at me, blinking.

"What the Hell, Kyouya?" he spluttered, still shocked. "If you wanted to speak to me you could have been less of a ninja than that. I didn't even hear you come downstairs."

That was because he was too busy talking about his ex-girlfriend. "I thought we weren't going to tell anyone that we're related?"

"Ryouhei doesn't even know you're here yet," he pointed out, tapping his index finger against my nose. I took a step back and narrowed my eyes at him, causing Dino to roll his eyes. "He forgot his key so I was kind enough to invite him over. Is there a problem with that?"

"Well, yes." I scowled. "This is my home, too. I don't want idiots coming over as they please."

"Really, you're insulting my friend now?" He sighed, grimacing as he realised that his feet were getting wet from not wearing any shoes. Mine were, too, but I didn't let it show on my expression. "I get it, you're angry, but I can't just send him away."

"Can't you just think of some reason for him to disappear?"

Dino frowned. "I wouldn't ask you to send your friend away if they were here. Actually, I'd probably introduce myself and be nice to them. Would it kill you to be pleasant to someone?"

"There are differences between us, Dino," I hissed, "I'm not like you. I wasn't raised that way."

He sighed, walking past me and purposely not looking over his shoulder as he said, "Clearly we're very different people, then."

"Yeah, we are," I muttered when he was gone, "I can't treat you how you treat me."

After making sure that I was calm again and wasn't going to make a fool of myself, I trudged back into the kitchen and threw my dirty socks into a laundry basket. Just as I was about to turn the corner and go upstairs when I heard Ryouhei shout, "Hibari!"

If that wasn't an invitation, I didn't know what was. I looked over my shoulder to see him grinning at me, Dino looking sheepish beside him.

"Why didn't you two tell me sooner?" he questioned, practically shouting. "I was sure that there was something going on between you both, but now I know." Ryouhei chortled, raising a fist into the air from finally knowing.

I looked over at Dino. "You told him." It wasn't a question, and yet Dino still bit down on his lip to stall for time.

"Now I can give you brotherly advice, my friend." Ryouhei grinned, placing his arm around Dino's shoulder.

Dino didn't say anything to that, nor to what I had said either. I narrowed my eyes at him before walking away, curling one of my hands into a fist at his behaviour. He lied and didn't keep secrets—in the end, what side of him could I trust? The endearing brother or the idiot side of him online that was a polar opposite?

Count Blonde: I'm not willing to believe that you don't have friends. Of course I want to meet you, Nami. You're my best friend. I look forward to seeing your reactions in real life. It's only a matter of time before we find each other, you know. And what do you think of lies, no matter how small they are?

AN: It seems this story only gets updated every two months, huh? This chapter was a hard one to write considering all of Kyouya's confusing, guilt and any other emotion he's feeling. Hopefully it's obvious that towards the end of the chapter he realises that he can't see Dino as a brother at all, but that doesn't mean he's going to allow him to be a romantic interest. So things are spicing up! No, Dino does not know that Kyouya is Nami. This story isn't going to be one where all is forgiven, they fuck and move on and forget that difficulties. No, Dino is not adopted. They really are related. No, Nagi does not have any romantic interest in Kyouya. No, nor does Mukuro. No, no, Haru has given up, she's not as sick as the main characters.

I've got a laptop again so updates are not typed up on my phone any more! I still need a beta, no one likes me enough to read my chapters beforehand, and I have to point out that it's four o'clock in the morning now.