07. Mazurka

T-Minus 23 Days

Kyouya sighed as he stared out the window of Tsuna's bedroom. The room was nearly completely dark, save for the soft glow of blue numbers on his alarm clock. It was much past midnight and Tsuna slept soundly just a few feet away from him. That bath seemed to have really soothed Tsuna, once he got over the stupid, irrational panic he initially had when he got in as well.

He clenched his fists, further crinkling the already incredibly worn sheet of paper in his hands. He unfolded the list and folded it again, barely glancing at the contents. It had become somewhat like a ritual to him, he found himself always playing with the paper during times of idleness. However, it seemed to take on a much larger meaning now.

The slightly faded ink had become a reminder of Tsuna.

As sad as the thought was, admittedly, he had read the sheet enough to have them all memorized by heart.

One – Change someone's life... for the better.

Two – Write a letter to Dad.

Three – Watch the sakura trees with everyone.

Four – See the sunset with someone I like.

Five – Fall in love.

He wondered if he would always remember it – even after Tsuna...

And of course, there was the fact that he said that he would help Tsuna accomplish this list. He didn't really know why he said it, but he felt like he needed to. It was like that strange human charity thing he saw once, where if you were gravely ill, these Genies would grant you one wish. He was once looking after a young girl a while ago, and she wished to go to a place called "Disney World."

Of course, when her mother was making the plans, he was already half-way through the one month of watching her. To put it blatantly, she had died shortly before her wish could come true. It was slightly tragic and quite pitiful, Kyouya suddenly realizes. He didn't really pay attention at the time. He never really had felt anything but indifference towards those people.

And now he was trying to play that Genie who granted artificial happiness with wishes out of pity – he really didn't want to look at it like that, and yet he couldn't resist.

Without meaning to, the thoughts he didn't even realize he had slipped into his mind, and before he knew it, he was remembering. Remembering all the people he had to pass judgement on. All of their faces flickered through his mind like an old movie, like grainy clips of footage. Each person melted into the next, and they were always laughing and talking and they were just so full of life, and a pang of sadness along with their smiling faces because he was the one who took it from them.

That thought made him just the tiniest bit sad.

Being sad was an entirely foreign emotion to Kyouya, so rather than just accepting he was sad, he pushed it all out of his head and focused on Tsuna's sleeping figure.

A Shinigami didn't have the right to be sad or selfish.

This was his duty, and he would do it until the end.

x

The same morning, a few hours later, Tsuna woke with a scream and searing pain in his abdomen.

"Lambo!" Tsuna cried, lifting the child off his stomach, "Don't do that!"

"Why not?" Lambo asked, "You're my subordinate."

"When did I ever agree to that?"

"Yesterday, stupid Tsuna."

Tsuna groaned, still holding Lambo up, "No, no, I didn't."

Anger contorted this cow child's face and his short arms and little hands attempted to swing at Tsuna, failing to do so by several inches. "Did so! Did so! Did so!" he whined.

"Did not!"

Lambo scrunched up his face, clearly displeased. "But you said!"

"Fine," Tsuna sighed reluctantly. If you couldn't beat 'em, join 'em. "And what would you like to do today, Lambo-sama?"

Lambo's face lit up and Tsuna almost shared his delight. He felt like he was doing something good. And besides, spending some time with Lambo wouldn't kill him. Besides, just a few days ago, didn't he want to help Lambo grow up to be a better person?

"Let's eat breakfast!" Lambo announced, the command sounding innocent enough.

Tsuna smiled, relieved. Lambo was just five years old, he couldn't do that much damage. "Sure –"

"But you have to give me all your sausages and you have to eat my boogers," said Lambo, as condescending as he could be. He stared pointedly downward at Tsuna, his little body squirming with laughter. "Gyahaha!"

"W-what? Wait! Wait! Don't pick your nose already! Stop! I never – Lambo, seriously! Stop! Lambo, go wipe it on a tissue – ah!"

x

No, he did not eat Lambo's boogers.

x

And so, even later that day, after his rather eventful breakfast, Tsuna was peacefully flipping through some magazine while resting on a couch in some room.

Kyouya approached him.

"I'm going to teach you how to dance," he declared loudly to the room, fully taking advantage of the fact Nana had taken everyone out for some ice cream, so there was no threat of children. Or Bianchi. The house was empty and silent and absolutely perfect.

Tsuna's eyes flickered from the page to Kyouya and back down to the page, as though he didn't really believe him. "No, thanks."

"You don't have a choice in this," he replied curtly.

Tsuna ignored this and flipped a glossy page.

"Herbivore," Kyouya frowned disapprovingly. Why wasn't Tsuna jumping at this amazing opportunity? He had mentioned that the dance wasn't fun because he couldn't, you know, dance. "I'm trying to be nice."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. But I really, really don't want to learn how to dance." Then, as an afterthought, "Can you even dance?"

Kyouya pondered this for a moment before having to admit, "Well, technically, I haven't ever tried either."

"Then how are you supposed to teach me?" Tsuna asked incredulously, very nearly throwing his magazine at Kyouya.

"There used to be this one guy who loved dance," he said, then added when Tsuna couldn't have looked more puzzled, "Someone else I had to watch over."

"Oh." Tsuna nodded his head solemnly. This was the first time Kyouya had ever said anything about previous... targets. "It's really okay," he said in a lighter tone of voice. He wasn't really sure if Kyouya got upset thinking about the other people and he definitely didn't want to touch a nerve or step on some hidden land mine, so as curious as he was, Tsuna didn't push any further, and continued reading his magazine.

Kyouya plopped himself down on the couch beside Tsuna without another word.

Maybe he finally gave up...

Tsuna flipped a page contentedly before freezing.

Oh God.

He could feel Kyouya's eyes staring right through him. Tsuna shakily raised the magazine higher to cover his quickly face. Why was Kyouya staring at him so much? This was getting uncomfortable.

This is way too intense for a stare.

Tsuna shivered.

I might die from this.

And was it just him, or was Kyouya inching towards him?

"Okay!" Tsuna exclaimed abruptly, unable to take his staring for much longer, "Okay! I got it! We can dance."

Kyouya grinned his preditorial grin, finally having gotten Tsuna to consent. It turned out to be a much easier task than he thought it would be, since Tsuna was able to go nearly an entire day without acknowledging him. He should have done this from the start!

Tsuna pushed himself off the couch, and said a bit warily, "Alright, teach me."

"You're going to dance in that?" The Shinigami said disapprovingly.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Tsuna looked down at his PJs. It was the weekend! If he wanted to laze around in his plaid pyjama bottoms and oversized T-shirt and refuse to go out, then so be it. "We're only practising anyways, it's not like it'll make a huge difference."

Kyouya frowned.

"You're not dressed really formally either," Tsuna pointed out in reference to his kimono.

"But black is formal," he retorted. "And it's a lot better than your sloppy ensemble."

Tsuna threw his hands up in frustration – were they seriously having this argument? "Kyouya, let's just get this over with."

It seemed like that was one thing Kyouya could agree with him on.

Instantaneously, Tsuna felt Kyouya's one hand in his, and another residing on his lower back. Alright. The sooner they started, the sooner they would be finished. He just hoped this wouldn't take too much time. Wait...

Tsuna scrunched up his nose, "Don't tell me that I'm taking the female role."

"Well, naturally," Kyouya said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. He gave Tsuna a once-over, "You're smaller than I am, skinnier, and not to mention, a herbivore."

"But I'm the one who's going to be the guy at the dance!"

Kyouya snorted, "A lot of women are manlier than you are. Maybe that girl will take lead – gender equality and all."

Agh. This wasn't fair at all. He didn't even want to do this dumb dance lesson thing, and now he had to be the girl? Kyouya was being so absurd about the whole thing. The two still remained stiffly in position in the centre of the rather vacant room.

"What else would you like me to do, stupid Shinigami-san? Put on a dress?" Tsuna replied bitterly.

Kyouya's face lit up and Tsuna's expression darkened as he watched with horror. Kyouya couldn't be taking him seriously, could he?

...could he!

"I-I was joking," Tsuna stuttered, staring up at his dancing partner, "...Joking. Pleasedon'tmakeme!"

Kyouya smirked, and held Tsuna in place more firmly, "Hn... I don't know. Maybe you should..."

"Hiee! Kyouya!"

"I'm only kidding."

"G-good!"

"Besides, you don't have the figure for a dress – you're lacking curves."

"You're completely right," Tsuna agreed, nodding his head furiously. He was so relieved, so glad – "I'm – excuse me what?"

Kyouya smirked again and Tsuna paled, suddenly dumbstruck.

He didn't even know why he was offended by this!

He was definitely not going to push this subject.

He was not going to convince Kyouya that he should, in fact, put on some girly dress and be entirely submissive.

No.

"Nevermind," Tsuna muttered as he grudgingly placed his hand on Kyouya's arm, letting him lead. He noticed that he did actually have to raise his own arm a bit as Kyouya was just the slightest bittaller. "What am I even learning?"

"Traditional, timeless dances," responded Kyouya, "Like the tango, and the waltz –"

Tsuna only sighed in a defeated manner and pulled on Kyouya a bit, "Alright, alright, let's go. Let's dance to invisible music."

Tsuna wasn't going to start another debate on whether or not people still danced like that.

Initially, Tsuna had felt extremely self-conscious. He wondered what Kyouya thought of him – was Kyouya laughing at him secretly inside? They circled around the room once, twice, uneasily and slightly at discomfort on Tsuna's part, rather impassive on Kyouya's.

Dancing was something entirely foreign to Tsuna. Well, any sort or form of physical activity that required coordination was. He was clumsy, had two left feet, and he never ever excelled at sports. So, of course, it was expected that Tsuna moved around the room as though he was just learning how to walk, stumbling and accidentally stepping on Kyouya, which, Tsuna had to admit, Kyouya took in stride. He just remained as neutral and stone-faced as ever. However, what surprised him was that Kyouya actually moved gracefully, despite it being his first time as well.

Maybe Shinigami were just good at everything.

Kyouya didn't even alert Tsuna of what they were doing – he just did it. The difference dances blended together like a large slur of movement, and Tsuna had no idea what they were doing anymore. Kyouya seemed to switch them whenever he felt like it.

Tsuna unconsciously leaned on Kyouya more, learning to fall into his steps. The distance that was originally between them seemed to have closed a bit. Hey, it seemed as though dancing wasn't too horrendous after all. It was actually kind of nice. The silence was like a tranquilizer, and the dancing wasn't physically straining or anything, either. He just had to rely on and follow Kyouya.

As he realized what he was thinking, a blush began to heat up Tsuna's cheeks. Agh, god, this was embarrassing, he didn't want Kyouya to see him all flushed again. So, Tsuna did what any other person in a situation like this – he hid his face on Kyouya's chest, just under his chin, and prayed that he wouldn't question it.

It's just practice, Tsuna told himself as he squeezed his eyes shut, for Kyoko.

And for some reason, the blushing herbivore against his chest made Kyouya want blush, himself. He sighed, this was kind of dangerous.

"Alright," said Kyouya, breaking the dead quiet of the house. "Class is over."

x

He didn't know why he was doing this, really, he didn't.

Tsuna decided he had to stop letting people take advantage of him, specifically, a blonde-haired, boyish twenty-something-year-old supposed adult named Giotto who was just a little too reckless.

Good God.

After his "dance lesson", Tsuna received a text from Giotto, begging him to come along with him, Cozart and Enma later that night.

Apparently, Cozart didn't want to leave Enma alone to go on a date with Giotto. And because the man was so clever, Giotto decided to drag Tsuna into it.

So it was a double date – er, not date, really. He would be a third wheel to Giotto and Cozart, of course, but there would be a second third wheel, Enma. Hopefully they could split up somewhere along the way, Tsuna didn't want the awkwardness of following around a couple with a fellow third wheel. That was awkward multiplied by seventy-two, if not more.

But here he was, in front of Enma's door for the second night in a row.

He wasn't supposed to have brought flowers or anything, was he?

No, Tsuna mentally slapped himself, it was not a date, and he was not obligated to do anything. Giotto should be extremely grateful that Tsuna even agreed to do this.

Before he could even knock, the door opened.

"H-hi."

"Come in." Enma smiled tentatively, and gestured to the inside of his house before retreating.

Tsuna followed behind Enma, trying hard not to stare too much at the bare house.

x

Author's Note: Hi. Looks like this story is going to have a somewhat decent ending after all.

I'd like to thanks so many people for such kind messages! I wasn't expecting anything like that at all – thank you! They all seriously touched me, and it's what inspired me to continue. I know some people have read what happens and the terrible ending I wrote rather quickly, but if you want to keep reading while fully knowing what happens, you're more than welcome. If not, thank you still! I promise that was the absolute last time I do anything like an Author's Note chapter. I am determined to finish this story no matter what.

If you're a new reader, just disregard everything, okay? (:

I used to have to do ballroom dancing for PE, so I actually do know how to do a basic tango, waltz, meringue, etc. Haha.

This chapter's contest word: waltz.

And I realize this chapter is kind of (a lot) cut off randomly, but I don't think I'll have time to write anymore for the next few weeks as I'm going into total hardcore study mode for SATs, and I think it's kind of a long time to wait, so here's a teaser, I suppose? Aha. (: