swing 8: discreet.

.

This was a time to be sneaky, Ryohei thought to himself as he peered around the corner of one of the hallways. It felt like he was playing a child's game again after such a long time—which was weird, because now he actually was in the mafia. But right now was not the time to think about technicalities. He had to get to the kitchen without being noticed, because if he was noticed, someone might ask what he was doing, and he knew he'd probably wind up making an idiot of himself trying not to say that he was avoiding Yamamoto.

… Which he wasn't. It just so happened that he hadn't seen the Rain guardian in about five days, which wasn't really that odd because of how big the base was. It wasn't that he paid attention to wherever the Rain guardian was going so that he could be sure not to be there; he didn't have a reason to do something extremely stupid like that—

"… Onii-chan, what're you doing?"

The soft voice from behind him caused him to jump with a slight (manly) yelp of terror. Looking over his shoulder shakily, Ryohei grumbled, "N-nothing…"

Kyoko blinked large, caramel eyes at him and eventually smiled. "You're so funny sometimes, onii-chan."

He forced a large grin onto his face, trying to make it silly as possible. He didn't want Kyoko to worry after all, not his precious sister. Rising into a standing position, he stepped towards her and noticed the basket she was carrying, which she had to shift her grip on every thirty seconds or so.

"Kyoko, are you—?"

"I'm fine, onii-chan," she said, her tongue sticking out a bit as she adjusted the basket even more. Finally looking up at him, she began to walk as she said, "You know, Yamamoto's been looking for you."

Out of habit, Ryohei had fallen into step with Kyoko and almost didn't register her question. After blinking a few times, he finally grumbled, "Oh, is that so."

Okay, so, this was awkward. Scratching the back of his head, he hoped Kyoko wouldn't make this into a big deal, in that quietly intense way she did.

"Are you upset with him?" She asked, widening her eyes at him, "Did something happen?"

Ryohei winced, but shook his head, "No, nothing happened. To the extreme."

"Then why are you avoiding him?"

Ah crap. There it was. Kyoko was looking at him with those silently accusing eyes, the ones that made him feel guilty and weak, like he should get on his knees and apologize with a bouquet of flowers.

"I'm not avoiding him," he muttered, looking away, "I just haven't seen him lately."

"You're lying," Kyoko said simply, and Ryohei could just imagine how much that hurt her, "Why are you lying?"

He groaned and ruffled his hair, "Kyoko—"

"Onii-chan!" She said, stopping and stomping her foot, "I want the truth!"

"I don't… know the truth," Ryohei mumbled, hanging his head, "I just kinda … do it."

"He really wants to talk to you," she said, sighing and turning away, "You should go find him."

He watched her walk to the kitchen, her grip on the basket shifting every once and awhile as she walked down the hallway.

Alright, he heard the trembling in her voice, the one only he could hear, and now he really felt like shit. Turning the other way and shaking his head, Ryohei growled at himself, "So much for being discreet..."

. . .

So much for being discreet, indeed, Yamamoto mused, waiting around the corner for the boxing fanatic (because he wasn't one to call Ryohei an idiot, unlike certain other people in the family—no, he is most certainly not looking at you, Gokudera, what?). The man had a talent for being completely unable to be quiet.

(Which, Yamamoto supposes, is probably one of the reasons Reborn had never commented that Ryohei would be a natural hitman or good assassin.)

But the other man walks around the corner without immediately recognizing Yamamoto's presence, and so he simply begins walking beside the slightly shorter man, waiting for the inevitable shock at Yamamoto being there.

"Damn it… Kyoko…" Yamamoto could only make out bits and pieces of the man's mutterings, but he sounded upset about something. Maybe it was a bad time to bother him?

Before Yamamoto could leave, though, Ryohei's eyes finally swiveled around to meet his and widened in alarm.

"Ya-Yamamoto! I didn't see you to the extreme! When did you—?"

"Only just now," Yamamoto chuckled, sliding the grin into place to try and calm the older man down. Ryohei bristled, spluttering slightly, but eventually seemed to give up and he closed his mouth.

Yamamoto looked at him, and eventually his smile faded.

Okay… now he felt a bit awkward. But this wasn't the time to let it show, seriously. So he pressed his lips to Ryohei's (a bit more clumsily than he would have liked), and when he pulled away, he plunged ahead, letting the question come out all in a rush, instead of more practiced and planned like he had intended.

"Would you like to go out with me sometime?"

…Yeah, definitely not as smooth as he had been hoping. Yamamoto winced a bit after it all came spilling out, sounding like one long, ridiculous word, not wanting to believe how lame and completely middle school that had sounded.

Ryohei stared at him, as if he had had all words and thoughts smacked from his mind. Forcefully. Yamamoto waited hopefully, looking back, and the other finally snapped out of whatever reverie he had been in.

"ARE YOU KIDDING." Ryohei shouted, shoulders shooting up to his ears, "OF COURSE NOT. TO THE EXTREME."

With that, he bolted away.

…Okay, well. That… really hadn't gone so well. Yamamoto wasn't sure if he should laugh or—well, no, he wasn't really upset. He had kind of been expecting something like that. It had definitely been… cute.

Yeah, that was the word. Ryohei, just then, had been really cute. Bright red and flustered and stiff. It made Yamamoto chuckle. Alright, he wasn't upset. He'd just have to try again later, when Ryohei wasn't so tense.

. . .

Somewhere else in the base, Kyoko suddenly sighed, deeply and put the knife that she had been using to cut the carrots down. Haru looked at her, wide-eyed and blinking inquisitively.

"Hahi? Kyoko-chan? Is something wrong?"

"Mm," Kyoko shook her head with a slight smile and looked at her friend reassuringly, letting the smile get bigger naturally. "It's just brother being himself again."

Haru didn't look any less confused, but she still smiled, laughing a little. "Okay."

Kyoko giggled a bit, went back to cutting, but thought to herself, Onii-chan, you idiot.

. . .

. . .

. . .

AHHHH! Finally, the next chapter! Holy crap, you guys! I am sorry! I've been working on this for… a while! I wrote the first part with Ryohei and Kyoko RIGHT after publishing the seventh chapter, but then I lost inspiration and stopped!

But because I've come up with the beginnings of the next two chapters (I know, the fact that these next two are the last two is getting to me, too. I'm actually really sad, LOL), I finally realized, "Oh my god! I never finished the eighth chapter!" so I rushed back to finish it. It… might not be as amazing as I wanted it to be, but I don't mind this chapter. I'm actually sort of starting to like the little Kyoko bits in this, too. .w.

AUGH, BUT THIS CHAPTER. WHY WON'T IT LET ME MAKE "WOULD YOU GO OUT WITH ME SOMETIMES" ALL ONE WORD? That's how it's SUPPOSED to come out, guys. D: But ff is being a dick and won't let me write that.

The next two chapters, I will be working hard on! I'll try and do my best! Please root for me, you guys!

with much love,

manrii.