Yuu-chi: Well, thank you, Ms. Yuu-chi, you're pretty awesome, too. I'm surprised that you cheered up from me posting the last chapter, lol, but you're welcome? I love you, too! AdaraLove: Yup, this is the last chapter! Thank you for your support and review! :D I'm a very happy bunny right now. axelluber300: Love you, too! ZirciX: I'd love that! I don't know whether I've messaged you before about being a beta, since I only have one right now, and the last few chapters were typed up completely on my phone, hence the mistakes~ nightingale mistress: Amano's stalking me, lmao! Dino's the English teacher in Luminescent Animosity. ;_; I love you! The Red Undertaker: This story is progressing into the last chapter! Oho! Thank you for all the support, girl or boy, thank you~ AssassinGirlz: Thanks! AssassinGirlz: Aww, thank you! Your review made me all happy and fuzzy on the inside. ;w;

家庭教師ヒットマン REBORN! © 天野明

Chapter twenty-nine—Then On

"Are you sure that you're fine with this?" Cavallone asked, glancing over his shoulder at me one more time. His expression kept switching from concern to being suspicious. It was possible he thought that I had an ulterior motive, but that wasn't my intention at all. I was still trying to convince myself that everything was normal and that if I questioned things further, I was only going to achieve a headache. "You're going to be seen with me."

"With how you act it's hardly a secret that we know each other." I rolled my eyes, walking through the doorway and taking my seat without much thought. He'd shown up just as I was about to walk past the school entrance, walking beside me as though it was the most natural thing to do. When I made no complaint about how close he was or that talking too much, his expression had started to change. I figured that I could give him the benefit of the doubt. He'd been honest enough—they could have hardly been lies when I could see the effects with my own eyes—and told me about what had been going on, so I could at least give him a pass to be close for awhile. His personality wasn't changing from when I was asleep to awake, he was staying as he was, referring to each time as subtle reminders. I was the normal one between the two of us, as I'd always expected. "Stop staring, Cavallone."

"Dino," he corrected me with a small smile. "I'm just amazed you haven't hit me yet."

"I'm just waiting for the right moment," I replied lazily, wanting to let my attention drift from the lesson. It was obvious that he was paying much attention, too—Dino's eyes were mostly on me, as if I was some sort of exhibit in the zoo. "Pay attention."

"Hypocrite." He grinned, turning his head but still glancing out of the corner of his eyes.

He'd explained everything and yet I was still apprehensive. I wanted to question whether I could truly trust his words; it was already clear that I didn't view him like the rest of the individuals surrounding me. To me, he was different; or, rather, that was the easiest way to explain it. My mood would change immediately whenever he was there, or even when my thoughts had drifted to his idiotic antics, and that should have been enough of a reason for me not to question him any further. I didn't want to delve into the rest of his life as he was doing the same for me. Cavallone wasn't prying for answers about my family, why I lived alone, or what any of my past experiences were like. All he cared about was what he saw before him, and that was almost admirable.

In return I wasn't going to ask why he was living alone as well, why his family was never mentioned and anything else. It was the least I could do as I couldn't visualise what it would be like to be able to visit others whilst dreaming. Did it feel real to him, as real as it felt when he visited me? Could he visibly feel every touch or had the amount of times he'd done it made it seem dull, like a chore?

I risked a glance out of the corner of my eye, only to find that Cavallone was still subtly glancing at me, too. His lips curled into a grin when he caught me looking, a grin far too smug looking. With my eyes focused on the board at the front of the classroom again, I could feel that my ears were burning.

Cavallone chose that moment to do something unexpected. Considering how far apart our desks were—almost an arms length—he had been discreet whilst shuffling closer and then reaching his hand out to place it on top of mine. Although I didn't move away in discomfort, I was sure that the subtle flinch that I produced was enough to alert him that his movement wasn't welcome. Rather than moving away, he traced my hand with him thumb, slowly moving it in circles in what I presumed was supposed to be a comforting manner. When he went to link our fingers, I finally pushed him away.

He kept his hands, and eyes somewhat, to himself after that.

Although I was fine with him that didn't mean I wanted to make whatever it was we had together known to the public. If I wasn't sure about what exactly it was, I wasn't going to be influenced by opinions. Were we only going to see each other for convenience; was I even considered a conveniently placed person? If I considered him different whilst being somewhat attached to him, it was clear that I wanted him around. And that was what I decided I needed to make clear as mostly all I had done was reprimand him whilst leading him around with my mixed reactions. I could have been doing it just for the kicks, or the thrill of knowing that he was actually putting up with all the ridiculous thing I was making him do. Cavallone had been dancing around my attempts at rejecting him, even so that I didn't want to any more, at least not in private.

As we picked up our bags and I was about to leave, still pondering, Cavallone stopped me by placing his hand softly onto my shoulder. "Can I talk to you about something, Kyouya?"

"Is it that important?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He nodded instead of answering, so I supposed it wasn't urgent.

Rather than waiting around for him to spit out whatever he had to say—and that I was slowing becoming impatient about finding out about—I walked home with him quietly beside me. It was an odd feeling to be nervous around him; my fingers were twitching slightly in anticipation every now and then when I thought he'd opened his mouth. I wet my lips unconsciously as I stepped inside, leaving the door open for him to come inside, too. When I glanced over my shoulder he was busying himself by placing our shoes to the side neatly.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked, settling myself down on the sofa.

"Kyouya," he started slowly, softly. "What do you think this is between us?"

And that was when I could feel my nerves increase. I blinked, drawing in a deliberately stretched out breath, before answering, "Convenience." I was playing it safe with a lie, a half-lie, whatever it could be classed as. I couldn't embarrass myself that way and have him realise that I'd been deluding myself, possibly.

"You're unbelievable, you know." He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he settled down beside me. He rested his elbow on his knee, hand still within his hair and keeping his head up, as he looked at me in slight exasperation. "This is why I thought it would be good to talk about this; and actually have you talk this time."

"I spoke last time," I retorted in my defence, "you were busy spouting your life story."

"You were asking me questions," he replied knowingly, raising his eyebrows slightly. My finger twitched as I waited for him to continue, resisting the urge to clench my hands. "If I was looking for convenience, I wouldn't be with anyone right now. I thought I told you this before, but apparently not."

My finger twitched—so I discreetly held onto the material of my trousers—as he was starting to get my hopes up.

"I love you, Kyouya," he announced in a soft voice. "I'm not saying this as a lie or just to trick you, I really do."

"I see," I murmured, blinking. He'd said exactly what I'd been wanting to hear, and yet I still hadn't thought of what I could say in return. The words were floating around in my head, but none were coming out of my mouth; rather, only a shallow breath was coming out as I stared blankly.

"Great." Cavallone groaned beside me, reaching his hand up to nervously scratch his neck. "It's not a positive reaction if you just stay quiet." If he had looked into my silence more, it could have been classed as positive. It wasn't that I wasn't talking as I didn't know how to let him down, it was the exact opposite, and by just admitting that to myself I could feel the tips of my ears starting to burn. Surely, it was showing my reaction on my expression. "Just tell me clearly, please."

"Dino..." I started, watching closely at how easily that had gotten his attention. Cavallone turned his head quickly, staring at me with a quizzical expression. "You're an idiot." Whatever he had been hoping for hadn't been that, that showed clearly on his face as he closed his eyes. "It's a bit too late now to reject you, isn't it?" Even though my voice had been calm, my pulse wasn't.

When his eyes flickered to mine, finally, there were some emotions within them that I couldn't decipher. "You've got an odd way with words."

He just needed to read in between them. "Oh?"

Cavallone shuffled closer to me, subtly placing his hand on my thigh. "I'll ask again," he said slowly, raising an eyebrow. "Will you tell me clearly whether we're continuing whatever this is between us?"

He was close enough that I could feel his breath on my face. "Don't put a name to it and we might."

"Kyouya." He frowned. "I'm not going to share you."

"I'll hurt you if you ever do," I answered on reflex with a threat, even narrowing his eyes in the process. Rather than being surprised by the response, Cavallone smiled warmly before leaning forward and pressing his lips against mine.

If he had intended the kiss to have been innocent and reassuring, it wasn't. It seemed to be the opposite as soon as his were pressed against mine; I leaned forward without much though, inviting him to deepen the kiss quickly, whilst tangling one of my hands within his hair. I could feel that he was smiling against my lips, clearly pleased with the turn of events, and I didn't do anything to wipe that away. I shuffled closer, not trying to cover the soft moan that escaped me when his appendage swiped against mine, and somehow found myself settled upon his lap within no time. One of his hands had eventually found its way to my lower back, his thumb tracing small, reassuring, circles as we shifted our positions. Although I had tried my best to keep my head clear, so I could think without any difficulty, but any coherent thoughts had left long ago.

"Kyouya," he murmured in the small amount of time we had to breathe. I was kissing him whilst the last syllable was still in the air, partly to stop any further conversation and to indulge myself. When he started to pull away from me, I bit down softly onto his bottom lip, frowning, opening my eyes and allowing them to meet his. If I had expected Cavallone to look surprised at all, I would've been disappointed as the light dusting of red across his cheekbones were a subtle give away. "I was only going to give you a peck to see whether you'd hurt me or not, but all right. I can deal with this."

The loud breath I let out could have been a sigh or just the air I had been unconsciously holding in. "You started it."

"I guess it's necessary if I finish it, too?" He grinned, the smug tone reflected within the set of his lips.

"...I really should punch you."

"Oh, go ahead," he said with a laugh. "Just stack up the bruises already."

"You just need to learn when to be quiet," I announced, scowling.

Cavallone laughed openly, placing a chaste kiss on my lips before saying, "Yeah, yeah."

"If I'm going to have to put up with you in real life, I want to sleep peacefully." Otherwise it would have seemed as though I couldn't escape him, and that he was always there—as suffocated as I had felt in the beginning without knowing anything.

"I can't promise anything." He grinned. "You will sleep peacefully, but we'll just have more time to speak and... other things."

I raised my eyebrows questioningly. "You're assuming that's going to happen."

As he winked, I frowned further. "I'm not assuming, Kyouya."

"I refuse."

"I'm not going to try and woo you again, we both know how messy it was the first time."

"You'd probably end up in hospital if you tried it again." He grinned as we made eye contact, and whilst trying to be subtle, Cavallone reminded me where one of his hands were as it slipped down to just above my backside. "No, you will end up there."

His smile only got wider. "You're attractive when you're feisty, you know."

"Masochist," I accused.

AN: So that's the end of this story. I hope everything is clear (probably not, knowing how scatterbrained I am) and that there was actually any plot at all. Any plot holes? Most likely. I'm not really the type to plan ahead so most of this was made up on the spot. Sorry about the delay for this last chapter! Thank you for all the reviews, feedback and anyone who's spoken to me and become my friend from outside of here! I only started this so I wouldn't write a load of smutty one-shots.