Author's Note: This is that creepy one-shot I mentioned in the AN for Gathering the Strongest Seven. The warnings include the following! Sick and twisted romance, stalking, murder, drugging, implied obsession and so on. All in all, this story is twisted. Don't say I didn't warn ya'!

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Twenty four year old Sawada "Giotto" Ieyasu asked for what had to be the eightieth time that evening. His younger brother of six years fell back against the bed with a groan, hands running through gravity defying locks in exasperation.

"For the last time, Gio… I. Will. Be. Fine." Sawada "Tsuna" Tsunayoshi replied, drawing out the syllables to further articulate his point. He was so overprotective.

Well, Tsuna thought. He supposed his older brother had a reasonable justification for his mothering. His father had been the same way before he left the house three hours earlier and had been the same way. They were just worried, he supposed, and they had every right to be because Tsuna had been taking anti-anxiety medication for the past three and a half years because of a trauma he had faced when he was fifteen.

Tsuna had been out past curfew—a rare occurrence as his mother and father tended to worry and when they worried, they blew up his cell phone with frantic voicemails. Now that he looks back on it, he should have taken the fact that he hadn't gotten one call from either of them as a warning in its own right—and had walked in to hear Giotto's stereo blaring but with no one in sight. He had gone up stairs to tell Giotto to turn it down or turn it off when he heard his mother scream, the sound a sharp contrast against the deep bass that shook the walls, and in a fit of desperation, hid under Giotto's bed.

He remembered the door slamming open and causing him to hit his head on the raised wooden frame hard enough to give him a concussion and hearing a man's voice demand, "Where is he?! Tell me where he is!" before his mother was slammed down onto the ground, right at his level. Tsuna had to muffle any frantic sounds that tried to escape him by covering his mouth with both hands.

"Tell me where he is! I know you know!" He'd said.

"I don't know!"

"Liar! Tell me!"

Nana had sobbed, desperation twisting her normally bright and exuberant features. "Please… just leave us alone." She begged. That had been the breaking point, apparently.

He couldn't remember exact details after that point—the psychologist told him that his memories of that night may never come back—but he did remember seeing his mother's lifeless eyes staring blankly at him from where he hid as her murderer drove a knife he had stolen from the kitchen into her chest, demanding that he tell her where he was even after she'd already departed from this world.

She hadn't told him a thing.

Sawada Nana had died at the age of forty protecting her youngest son.

It's been three and a half years and he still had nightmares about that night. But even though he dreamt about it, he could never make out the killer's features. He would always appear as an indistinctive shadow with cruel, amber eyes.

He kept his dreams to himself, only mentioning them briefly in a journal that he kept hidden under his floorboards, because he didn't want anyone to worry—especially his family.

"I just worry, Tsu. You know that." Giotto said, running a hand over his younger brother's face and almost startling him enough to jump. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." He was their last tie to Nana, after all.

Tsuna sighed, putting a hand over Giotto's and leaning into the hand. "Nothing will happen to me." He assured. "Your house is locked up tighter than a prison, Gio. It'll just be me here with your monster stereo and a pool." A pool, might he add, that was in a back yard that was surrounded by a thorny hedge and a padlocked gate. There was no way in hell anyone was getting in—or out.

And besides… he wouldn't be alone.

(He thought it was best that he keep that little tidbit of information away from Giotto who was less than disapproving of the company he chose to keep these days.)

"That monster stereo cost me two and a half million yen to build." Giotto said with a smirk, his cerulean eyes glittering with amusement. "If you blow my system, I'll wring your neck."

Tsuna snorted. Only Giotto would spend that much on a sound system that he only used every few weeks. "I won't. Promise." Tsuna raised his hands in mock surrender. Giotto smiled at him fondly, his tie hanging undone around his neck.

"God, I'm going to miss you." Giotto was going to spend an entire week abroad—in Italy—learning the ropes that went along with running an international, multi-purpose industry that he was going to inherit from their grandfather and Tsuna would be left here to house-sit the spacious mini-mansion.

The house itself was spacious, sat up on one of the hills that surrounded Namimori. The living room was open with wall-windows that overlooked the city. The floors were a combination of hard-wood paneling and granite tiles. It was like the ultimate bachelor pad, topped off with a flat screen, every game system known to man and a stereo system that most people would kill for.

"I'm going to miss you both if one of you doesn't get his ass in gear." A red-head with a fiery tattoo on his cheek drawled with casual impatience from the doorway. He was leaning against the doorway, his arms across his chest as he spoke. Giotto snorted under his breath while Tsuna laughed nervously.

"Alright, alright, I'm going, I'm going." Giotto put his hands up. "Impatient jackass."

The red-head raised a slender crimson eyebrow. "I could send Alaude in here if you'd like."

"N-No thank you. H-He's getting ready." Tsuna said, rushing to answer before Giotto could, his voice pitching oddly and for a good reason—Alaude was scary, even on the best of days.

Di Cenzo "G" Garretta was Giotto's childhood friend. The two of them met in an alleyway when they were just starting middle school, surrounded by thugs with odds that were stacked too far against them. G had gotten into a fight and Giotto stepped up to even out the odds. After knocking them out and calling Alaude who, at the time, ran the Disciplinary Committee, the two of them got to talking and they'd been friends ever since.

"See to it that he does." G said before kicking off of the doorway and vanishing down the hall. Tsuna smiled and made a 'well go on' motion with his hand.

Giotto grumbled while he tied the scrap of very expensive cloth around his neck. "I'm supposed to be his boss, not the other way around!" Giotto whined as though it wasn't totally beneath a multi-millionaire business man to whine like a child.

Tsuna snickered softly. "Just wait for the paperwork." He said teasingly, recalling the many times their grandfather grumbled about the stacks of paperwork that seemed to devour his desk. "He might chain you to the desk."

Giotto groaned. "Don't jinx me." Giotto begged. "He's already acting like a mother hen—I don't need a nagging housewife to top it off."

Tsuna burst out laughing. "Nagging housewife. I'm telling him you said that."

"Please do—and record his reaction for me too."

"Don't worry." Tsuna said cheekily. "I planned on it."

"Have a nice trip!" Tsuna called after the cars regardless of the fact that they couldn't see or hear him. When they were out of sight, Tsuna walked back into the house and smiled to himself. He sauntered over to the stereo and turned on one of the CDs that a… friend of a friend had burned for him before pulling out his cell phone.

Well, he thought as the dial tone rang out, Giotto hadn't said he couldn't have company. "Has he left yet?"

"Five minutes ago. How long before you get here?"

The door opened and the devil himself walked in as though he owned the place. "Fast enough, koi?" He asked, already tucking his phone into his back pocket.

Di Nero "Reborn" Renato was a sharp dressed devil with distinctive eyes that were silver rimmed with black with flecks of gold. When he wasn't wearing an expensive Armani suit, he was wearing a pair of slacks with a pair of suspenders and a white, button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled half-way up his forearms—but no matter what he wore, he always had a yellow-banded fedora atop of spiky black locks.

He walked with an air of confidence, strolling through the house as though he owned the place. "This place is pretty swanky." He said, running his hands over the granite counters. "Lots of hard surfaces." He flashed Tsuna a very salacious leer. "I can't wait to take you on each and every one of them."

"R-Reborn!" Tsuna protested, a delicate flush spreading over his nose.

"Don't pretend you don't like it, love." He said, stepping into Tsuna's personal space and pressing him against the wall-window. A shudder rolled through the brunet when a hand trailed up the curve of his back, holding him close while Reborn's leg slowly parted Tsuna's. "This next week…" He said huskily, leaning down against his throat. "…is going to be fun."

Tsuna gasped for air when he caught Reborn's devilish smirk before he bit that sweet spot on his neck. His fingers clawed against Reborn's shoulder, trying to keep his balance while Reborn worked his magic over and over again for the next three hours.

"Enough." Tsuna gasped as he reached his climax yet again that evening. They had finally reached the bedroom that Tsuna would be staying in after three rounds in the living room and one in the hallway (Reborn was insatiable much to the man's pride) and now, they were both lying bare on white sheets. "I can't take anymore."

Reborn chuckled. "Mm," He hummed, his fingers trailing down Tsuna's back. "Your stamina has improved." He mused as though it was an everyday topic. Tsuna flushed and buried his face in the pillows. "My Tsuna is so adorable."

"Stop teasing me." He whimpered, taking care when he moved.

"But it's a husband's job to tease his wife." Reborn said with mock innocence. If Tsuna would have had the strength, he would have hit him with a pillow. "But it's also a husband's job to cater to his wife after she's satisfied his every desire." He said, leaning down and kissing Tsuna on the side of the mouth before he stood up, taking one of the sheets with him. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Anything as long as I don't have to move." Tsuna said, dismissing the wife comment. Reborn was just teasing him, after all.

"Hm, Shrimp Fettuccini Alfredo it is." Reborn said.

Tsuna smiled. "I'll be out in a minute." He wanted to shower first, if only to wash away the sweat.

"Of course, il mio amore." Reborn bowed casually, as though he was an old fashioned gentleman from one of those old movies. Tsuna laughed softly as his love trailed out of the room, probably to gather his clothes before cooking (or at least he hoped… Reborn had seen him flush enough, thank you very much).

Tsuna shifted his weight slightly to get used to walking with the satisfied pain in his lower back before he went into the bathroom and started up the shower.

Yes, he thought. This week would be perfect.

Desire.

It turned men into beasts, into savages that couldn't stop themselves. He knew because Tsunayoshi elicited that very sensation from him ever since the day he laid eyes on him…

But that damn Di Nero… he had dared to touched what was his. He defiled what he was going to claim. His desire had tainted his beautiful Tsunayoshi.

He supposed that it didn't really matter in the end. Tsunayoshi would be marked to the very core with his essence soon enough and when that day came, he would punish Tsunayoshi for allowing himself to be touched by someone other than him. He'd punish him, fuck him, and then punish him again for good measure because Tsunayoshi was his. The only one who was allowed to break the delicate doll was him!

All he had to do was claim him…

Soon, he told himself. Everything Tsunayoshi was would be about him as well. Tsunayoshi would see only him in the end.

Tsuna was his! His!

HIS!

But right now, he had to be patient. He would wait and admire him from afar. He had a week. He would use that to his advantage.

In his hazy, cotton-wrapped vague consciousness that came with an overwhelming desire, he felt his groin throb painfully at the fantasizing images he allowed to pass through his mind. With a groan, his fingers trailed over his throat, dropping down to his chest, his navel before pausing at the hem of his pants, a sickening shudder rolling through him the whole time he touched himself, relieving the coil of desire that wound in his body and soul.

"You will fall into my arms, my sweet Tsunayoshi…"

He would make sure of that.

"Reborn!" Tsuna flushed, turning away from him quickly. He should have known Reborn wouldn't have gotten dressed. "Put some clothes on."

"Why? You've seen me naked before." Reborn said bluntly, his smile becoming feral with lust. "Why are you so embarrassed?"

"B-Because! P-People don't just w-walk around naked!"

Reborn laughed at Tsuna, "If it will make you feel better, I'll get dressed. Keep an eye on the noodles for me." Tsuna ducked passed Reborn, ignoring his heated gaze while he stirred the boiling pot of noodles.

"Thanks, Reborn." He said, not turning around. His face was still hot. He heard Reborn pause before he ducked back into the bedroom to get dressed. Tsuna closed his eyes and listen to the slow song that was playing.

The dust is clearing, the desert is cold. The stars are quiet and I can't make a sound… and I… just wait… for you.

He chose to hum along to the music instead of trying to sing as his English wasn't the best—or at least he would have hummed if the lights hadn't flickered. He cocked his head to the side, frowning slightly when the house was plunged into darkness.

"Cazzo. Did Giotto forget to pay his electric bill?" Reborn asked from somewhere off to the right—the hallway, maybe?

"No. I think it might be the circuit breaker." Tsuna replied. He felt around blindly for the couch where he remembered leaving his phone. "Can you come with me to check?" Reborn didn't tease him like he normally would have done because he knew the reason behind Tsuna's aversion to being alone. In truth, it was sort of the reason he and Tsuna had become an item.

Tsuna had come to him on the six-month anniversary of his mother's demise in search of comfort that his family couldn't give him. The two of them stayed up all night talking, jumping from subject to subject without a care. That night had been the first of many in which the rest of the world didn't exist to them. It was only Tsuna and Reborn.

Tsuna put in his password and turned on the flashlight app (which was admittedly very bright for a phone). "Ready?" He asked, looking at Reborn who nodded. Tsuna reached for the door and frowned.

"What is it? Don't know how to open a door?" Reborn asked sarcastically.

"No… it's not that… it's… the door won't open." He said.

"What do you mean the door won't open?"

"Try it." Tsuna motioned to it. "It's stuck tight. I think it might be jammed."

Reborn tugged on the doorknob before a scowl etched into his face. "Is there another way outside?"

"There is but the circuit breaker is on the side of the house and the gate blocks it off."

"You're kidding. Who was the idiot who designed that layout?" Reborn asked flabbergasted.

Tsuna offered him a wry smile. "Giotto had this house custom built, Reborn."

"Your brother is an idiot." He deadpanned.

Tsuna silently agreed. "I'll call him." He said, going to the home page and dialing the number. His phone gave a protesting cry. His lips pulled down. "That's weird… I could have swore I charged it this morning… my battery's dead." He looked at Reborn. "Try your phone."

Reborn pulled out his phone and turned it on. "I'm not getting a signal."

Tsuna's eyebrows shot up. "I thought you said nothing short of a Russian surplus cell jammer could block it off."

Reborn grimaced, "I did and I wasn't lying. Verde designed my phone personally." His eyes drifted towards the windows. "Does the stove work without electricity?"

"No. It's an automatic shut-off." Giotto wanted an electric stove instead of a gas one—something about carbon monoxide. Tsuna didn't know. He wasn't paying attention.

"Strange… come on. Let's just go out to the pool house—it has its own circuit breaker, right?" Reborn asked, a hand slipping over Tsuna's. Tsuna frowned at Reborn—he looked unusually pale, even in the darkness. Did the jammed door really bother him that much? Or was it because of something else?

Tsuna's foot caught on the step that led from the kitchen into the hallway and his phone fell to the floor. "A-Ah! My phone…" He pulled away from Reborn and turned around to grab it. "Damn…" The battery fell out. He blinked rapidly, forcing his eyes to adjust to the darkness before he reached over to the small black rectangle against light granite tile.

"Tsuna!" Reborn sounded scared.

"Wh—" He began, turning around but was cut off when someone grabbed him in a choke hold from behind.

"Don't move." A familiar-but-unplaced voice said dangerously from behind. Tsuna knew that voice from the night his mother was murdered.

For a moment, raw panic threatened to claw away at Tsuna's thought process but he forced it to subside. He could fight back. Giotto had taught him how to fight back. All he had to do was use his small size against his opponent.

"Like hell." Tsuna hissed. Without thinking, Tsuna forced one of his legs between the other's and jerked his foot forward, catching him on the back of the knee and causing him to loosen his grip. Tsuna dropped to the floor, rolling away from him and caught sight of vibrant amber eyes just as the lights turned back on.

"No…" He heard Reborn whisper before he turned his head and looked up.

Horror and shock filled his entire being. "It was you?" He whispered.

"It was you?" Tsunayoshi whispered, all of the blood draining from his face causing his already pale skin to look even paler. Oh, how it would look all marked up with his love bites instead of that damned Reborn's… "You killed kaa-san?"

Giotto threw his head back and laughed. "She had it coming." He said, his amber eyes narrowing into slits.

"Why?" Horrified didn't even begin to describe his tone. Giotto smiled. It was a lovely sound to hear.

"Because she tried to have us separated." Giotto said. "Originally, I was supposed to finish high school in Italy while you attended school here in Japan." He laughed mirthlessly. "She thought that we were getting far too close to be considered safe."

A bell tolled somewhere in the back of Tsuna's mind—his mother lecturing him, telling him that he couldn't be Giotto's wife. He had been a child then, not understanding what incest entailed. He loved his big brother in a less than platonic way when he was younger.

But he didn't anymore. He loved Reborn now.

The defiant tilt of his jaw must have given him away because Giotto hummed. "Reborn, Reborn, it's all about Reborn to you, isn't it?" He mused, his eyes drifting sidelong to look at the other man. "It's hard to love a corpse." He mused before drawing a gun leveling it at Reborn. Tsuna cried out, throwing himself in front of him before Giotto could even think about firing.

"Don't hurt him!" Tsuna cried. "Please, Giotto. Don't…" He trailed off, noticing his brother's face growing darker and darker.

"Stand aside, Tsunayoshi!" He snarled, his eyes darkening a shade, almost making them look red.

"No." Tsuna's voice quivered. "No. I won't! I won't let you hurt him!" He glared at Giotto. "I love him, Giotto. I love him the same way you love me. If you kill him, you'll be killing me as well."

'Tsuna…' Reborn looked down at his beloved. "Stop this idiocy, Giotto. You and I both know that the ruse is up." His eyes darkened. "Besides… aren't you supposed to be on a plane right now?"

Giotto smiled. "It seems that there was a slight miscommunication error on the airport's behalf... my ticket was… lost in the mail."

"How did you manage that?" Reborn asked.

"I'd love to tell you, Di Nero, but your living on borrowed time… as soon as my brother steps aside," He leveled a dark glower at the object of his affection. "You will be dead." He finished lightly as though he wasn't talking about murder.

"Che." Reborn ticked. "I'm afraid that you're a little behind on the times, Giotto. Tsuna and I have been together for two and a half years now."

Giotto's eyebrows rose above his hairline but he didn't show any reaction beyond that. It was as though it didn't bother him at all. "That's a real shame, you know." He said, sauntering across the hall to where a shelf stood. "I was hoping to be Tsuna's first but… I suppose I'll take what I can get." He looked at Tsuna who was clutching his cell phone to his chest as though the meager device would protect him. "Did you ever find out why your battery died so suddenly?" He asked conversationally. Tsuna blinked and looked down at his phone in time to see the back of it lift and spray something into the air.

And then all faded black.

Tsuna woke up with a scream, awareness coming to him all too quickly as the events raced into his mind. He became vaguely aware of arms wrapping around him and a soothing voice speaking to him. "Easy, Tsuna." Reborn said soothingly. Tsuna's scream cut off and turned into muffled sobs as he clung to Reborn as though the older man was a lifeline.

"It was Giotto, Reborn. He killed her. He did it!" Tsuna sobbed hysterically.

"Shhh, Tsuna. It was just a nightmare. Giotto was with Iemitsu, remember? The police already proved his alibi." Reborn said. "It was just a nightmare, koi."

Tsuna's frantic breathing calmed and he looked around. "He's not… here?"

Reborn gave him a strange look. "Koi, you know he's in Italy right now, right?"

"B-But…" He looked around him. "Wh-what…?"

Reborn looked a little relieved. "The power went out. You fell asleep." He ran a hand through Tsuna's hair. His expression turned wry. "The pastas ruined." He added.

Tsuna found himself choking on a laugh.

The front door creaked and Reborn winced when he heard the blond in question cursing in Italian. "—freaking weather, I swear—oh…" He blinked, looking up to see Reborn and Tsuna. His blue eyes narrowed slightly and he raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you invited a friend over." He said slowly, looking at Reborn with more than a little distrust.

"G-Giotto…" Tsuna stuttered.

"I came over on my own, actually." Reborn interrupted smoothly, not breaking eye contact even though he was lying through his teeth. "I thought that it would be best if… Tsuna not be alone."

Giotto smiled thinly. "I see." He said. "Well… thank you… but it seems I no longer need a house-sitter." He grimaced. "A storm over Siberia is making it impossible for any flights to get in or out of European airspace."

"Pity. Florence is nice this time of year."

"So I've been told."

"Did G throw a fit?" Tsuna asked.

Giotto snorted, "It wasn't a fit, Tsu. It was a freaking temper tantrum. He acts so mature when he's excited but he turns into a five year old when he feels disappointment."

Tsuna huffed with laughter before pushing the throw blanket off of him. His content smile quickly turned to a grimace when he realized his clothes were soaked with sweat. "I'm going to go change…" He paused. "Can you two get along until I get back?" He asked.

"We will." Giotto and Reborn said at the same time, offering their own versions of the same smile. Tsuna looked at them warily before he turned his back on them and ducked into the hallway.

But in doing so, he missed the sinister intent that took over Reborn and Giotto's expressions.

"Let the games begin."

Reborn caught Tsuna instinctively as he fell, cursing under his breath when Giotto leveled a gun at his head. "Don't be an idiot, Giotto. You don't know the first thing about murder."

"Oh? And you do?" Giotto asked. Reborn chuckled eerily but didn't give a reply. "No matter. You are only in the way."

"Tsuna would hate you." Reborn said before he could think about the consequence of his words. "He would never forgive you, let alone come to you willingly."

Giotto sneered. "But he'll move on. He won't have a choice."

"What will you do?" Reborn asked. "Force yourself on him? Keep him hostage and hope Stockholm syndrome kicks in? Drive him insane until he only sees you?" He scoffed. "It's temporary bliss, Giotto. He'd kill himself before to escape your grasp before the month was over. I guarantee it."

"You know nothing." Giotto hissed.

"I know a lot more than you think." Reborn said, smirking cruelly up at the blond.

Giotto stared at him for a long moment, weighing his options carefully. On one hand, he could kill Reborn and prove him wrong… but then where would his fun be? He'd have his prize but the fun part would be over…

He mulled for a bit longer before he lowered the gun and extended his free hand with a cheery smile. "I think… that you and I can get along just fine."

Owari.

Other warnings include implied incest.

Thanks for reading~!