Chapter 3

Title: The Anomaly

Genre: Romance, Angst

Pairing: Xanxus X OMC

Summary: When two angry souls find each other and one is a girl from another world who is murdered and finds herself being reborn in a world where it is normal for people to catch fire. Literally. Did I mention that said girl is now a boy?

Warning: OC (not self-insert), Slash, Yaoi, BoyXboy, Reincarnation, Language

Chapter Three

A few days after his strange dream, Naoki still could not keep it out of his mind. Instead, he went through the days lost in thought. He did not even seem to notice when the Italian transfer student started to follow Tsunayoshi around like a puppy, or when the school star baseball player tried to commit suicide one day before also starting to follow Tsunayoshi the next.

That dream… It had not been just a dream. There were times when dreams could be quite realistic but this… this was too much. Not only had the dream held too much detail to be only a figment of his imagination but he certainly had felt that oppressive presence the man had exuded, the fear he had felt and the adrenaline in his body.

The second time he had a strange dream, he fell asleep reading, curled up under the covers of his bed. He 'woke' up standing in the same room as the previous time. With a hint of nervousness in the pit of his stomach, he took his first step and let his feet guide him to where the man had been that last time.

He was there again.

As Naoki rounded the corner, red eyes snapped open and locked onto his small frame. Naoki froze.

"You again," a deep voice said, the man not moving from where he was lounging in the throne-like chair as he observed Naoki. "What the f-k are you doing here, trash?"

Naoki licked his suddenly dried lips. "Where is here?" he instead asked, absently noting that they were speaking in Italian, one the numerous languages he had taken to learn in this new life when he had found school to be too boring and not enough challenging.

The man seemed to stare at him harder, making Naoki stiffen.

"Hm. What's your name, trash?"

Naoki blinked, having not expected this question. The man in front of him did not seem the type for conversations, much less for bothering with other people. However, he did not test his luck; he really did not want to know what the man would do if he got impatient.

"Naoki," he said. "My name is Sawada Naoki."

"Hm? Japanese." Then suddenly his red eyes sharpened and regarded Naoki in such a way he felt like he was being scrutinized and judged. "Do you know a Sawada Iemitsu, trash?"

Naoki stared. "How do you know that idiot's name?"

"So, you do know him." Then red eyes glared at him and Naoki wondered just what the hell was going on there. This was all too confusing. He was meeting a strange man in his dreams, a man who seemed to know Iemitsu of all people and who Naoki had the strange feeling was not usually as calm. "What's your relationship with him, trash?"

A distasteful grimace made its way on his face. "I don't know why he is so interesting but he is my… father." Before he could see the man's reaction, Naoki found himself waking up in his bed again. He sighed and then frowned.

Something strange was going on. It had started with those dreams but he wondered if it had not started even before? He remembered that day Iemitsu's boss had come to visit them and Tsunayoshi had caught fire. There had been strange men who had appeared afterwards. He did not know what was going on but he knew now that Iemitsu was involved in something definitely suspicious.

Then there was Tsunayoshi. Since his baby tutor had come he had started acting strange, from coming to school half-naked, confessing to that Sasagawa girl and even getting involved in fights. He wondered if what Iemitsu was hiding had something to do with Tsunayoshi; it was quite possible, the man had always loved his 'little tuna fishy'. Since that day with Iemitsu's boss Tsunayoshi had always been favoured by the man. It had never bothered Naoki before since it meant that the man and his idiocy would stay far away from him. However, now he wondered if he was not getting Tsunayoshi also involved in whatever suspicious business he was engaged in.

With a sigh he decided that it would be best to think about all this later. It was the weekend so he had been able to sleep in a little. However, it was also the summer, being July and all, and it was starting to become a little too warm. He really could not wait for the Summer Holidays.

He stood from his bed, quickly straightened it before opening his window to let the cool morning air in. He took in a deep breath, savouring the feeling of the slight breeze licking at his cheeks. Then he turned around to get ready for the day. Half an hour later he went down the stairs, showered and fresh, to make his way to the kitchen. Tsunayoshi, Reborn and Nana were already there when he sat down.

"Good morning, Nao-kun!" Nana chirped happily as she handed him a plate of warm food. He nodded back in greeting and immediately dug in.

"Nao," a squeaky voice called. Naoki looked up to blink at the baby tutor. Since when did he become 'Nao'? "Why don't you help with Tsuna's lessons today?"

"Hiiiie! Reborn!" came from Tsunayoshi and Naoki spared him a glance. He looked nervous.

"What? It's not like he has anything planned for today."

The blonde raised an incredulous eyebrow. How would he know that? It was more like the baby was indirectly ordering Naoki to help Tsunayoshi. The undertone in his voice was enough to clue him in, and he really did not like being ordered around. Especially by a baby. Even if said baby seemed more like an adult.

"I am busy," he said instead. They both turned to look at him, Reborn more amused as if he had expected Naoki to say this and Tsunayoshi surprised. Huh, when was the last time he had talked in Tsunayoshi's presence besides a hurried 'goodbye'? Even he could not remember.

"Busy doing what?" Reborn asked.

Well, he had not thought of that. He blinked his eyes slowly before blurting out the first thing that popped into his mind, "cooking."

The effect was immediate. Tsunayoshi snapped his head violently at him – Naoki wondered if he got whiplash – and gapped, Reborn raised his eyebrows at him and from behind him he heard Nana exclaim, "Ara! I did not know Nao-kun could cook!"

"You are going to cook?" Reborn asked disbelievingly.

Since he was already deep in, Naoki decided to just go along with it, so he simply nodded. He had not cooked since his death and to be truthful he had missed it. It was the one thing he had shared with his previous mother after all and she had always loved eating whatever Naoki would make, especially when he would make sweets.

"What are you going to make then?"

"Dessert," he replied simply. He quickly finished eating, not wanting to continue this conversation, before leaving the room. An hour later when he was sure Tsunayoshi and Reborn would be busy in the former's room and Nana would be taking care of the laundry, Naoki went back downstairs.

Two hours later found Naoki cleaning after himself as he set a large chocolate cake to cool on the cooling rack. During the whole process he had found himself lost in thoughts and memories of the past. He missed his previous life where he had been happy with a normal family, a bright future and even a boyfriend, disregarding the fact that everything had gone wrong afterwards. The last time he had made a chocolate cake had been for their birthday. She had pouted all of five minutes before Naoki had relented and gone to bake a marshmallow cake. She had always loved marshmallows…

It… hurt to think of her and all the great time they had spent together because Naoki was reminded of her betrayal. She had been his twin, his partner in crime. Nothing had ever hinted at the fact that she hated him. That was why her betrayal hurt so much; Naoki did not understand what could have driven her to kill him.

He was suddenly startled from his thoughts as something wet fell on his knuckles. Raising his fingers to his face, he realized confusedly that he was crying; crying for a lost life, a lost family, a lost future, but most of all crying for the loss of this bond he had once had with his sister. Rubbing his eyes raw, a choked gasp leaving his lips, Naoki turned on his heels and rushed to his room where he remained for the rest of the weekend. He never saw the tiny figure observing him from the doorway.

The next time he had another dream, a woman by the name of Bianchi, who was apparently in love with Reborn, started to live with them – there was so many things wrong with that. Naoki was still affected by his memories of his previous life – he had refused to even look at the cake he had baked since then – so his reaction might have been a little lacking. He should have been terrified, confused and maybe even irritated, but he was mostly numb.

When he appeared in front of the man, they both stared at each other in surprise before Naoki turned away. He walked a few feet away and sat down in a small corner of the room, drawing his legs close so as to hold them together, gaining slight comfort form the action. He closed his eyes and buried his face in his knees, waiting for the dream to end. Thankfully, the man did not try to talk to him too; he was simply ignored.

The next couple of times he had the same dream he did the same thing, though during the last one, he could feel piercing eyes glaring daggers at him.

A few days after the cow child, Lambo, started to live with them, Naoki had another dream. He went to bed particularly annoyed and displeased; he was already in a bad mood all this time and a few days before during dinner, now the only time he really bothered to appear in front of his… family, Lambo decided to steal his food. It might have been a silly reason to act like he had but his mood had soured even more. He had stood up, excusing himself before disappearing to his room. He avoided eating with them anymore and tried to spend as little time in the house as possible; he felt bothered and unbalanced, as if unable to really find his place anymore.

Why was he alive?

Why had he died?

What had he done wrong?

Why was he not… dead?

These questions still filtering across his mind, Naoki appeared in the dark room. He chanced a glance at the man from all those times before retreating to where he had spent all his time the last few times. He did not know how long he had been there when a deep, angry voice suddenly yanked him from his dark, drowning thoughts.

"Stop your sulking already, you f-king brat! You are polluting my space with your useless emotions!"

Naoki positively froze. Maybe it was the accumulated emotions from the past couple of weeks or the stress of trying to find out what suspicious activity Iemitsu and Tsunayoshi were taking part in without actively getting involved, but whatever the reason, something seemed to snap in his mind. Everything he had hidden and kept to himself, deep in his subconscious since his death and subsequent rebirth came bursting out: loss, sadness, pain, betrayal, but most of all anger, irritation, anguish…

His head snapped up and glared at the infuriating man, his blue eyes becoming particularly frosty. "You have absolutely no idea what I am going through, so if I want to sulk, I am going to sulk, you bloody irritating man!"

A red-eyed glare was his reply. "You dare talk to me like this, scum?"

"Yes, I dare," Naoki sneered. Suddenly, before he could react, he found himself flat on the ground with the man over him, one large hand holding him in place by the throat. He knew that he should be sacred, terrified even, and he knew that if he had been in his right state of mind he would have been. However, he was too incensed to care at this point. He bared his teeth at the large, threatening man, unmindful of the squeeze he was given at the throat. He did not even register the pain. "You don't know – You don't know – You don't know anything! You don't know what it's like to be betrayed by someone who has held your trust all your life; you don't know what it's like to die; you don't know what it's like to be trapped in the body of a child; you don't know what it's like to trust no one and to fear every person's intentions; you don't know what it's like to wish for death!"

With everything having finally found their way out into the open, Naoki deflated and curled in on himself, silent tears finally escaping his eyes. He did not notice the hold on his throat disappearing nor the contemplative silence that came from his companion.

"Tch. Weakling." Naoki looked up, too tired to muster up even indignation at the comment and found himself staring directly at the dark pair of eyes of the man straddling his slight form, a disgusted sneer in the scarred face. "You're just going to lie down and accept your fate? I met others who have had worst and they fought back."

Naoki frowned, confused. Those words… they held more behind them than it should be possible. He thought that the man – whom he still did not know the name of – would not understand him, but those words, thought they seemed like they were criticizing him – which they were – Naoki noticed the underlying meanings. He noticed that the man did not try to refute his claims; not only did he believe Naoki but he understood him, maybe even sympathized with him.

He was so shocked that it too him a moment to realize that the angry man's face had long dissolved to make way for his bedroom ceiling, eyes wide in shock and tears frozen.

He laughed.

I have one last completed chapter for this one before I will have to write the others. So after the next chapter the others might be updated with larger intervals...

Thank you for reading. Leave behind a review and tell me your thoughts.