Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or Harry Potter; the honour goes to Amano Akira-san and Ms JK Rowling respectively.

Chapter 5

Cinci*

Moments after Skull leaves Lal's room, Fon silently enters, face devoid of his usual serene smile. He cocks his head to the side, studying Lal with an eerily Verde-sque gaze.

"What is it that makes you so special?" He asks her, knowing full well that she wouldn't answer. "Why does Skull love you so much?"

A calloused hand reaches out to play with silky blue hair, caught in a deceptively gentle grip. "He should only love me."

A few seconds pass before Fon sighs, unclenches his hand, and turns to walk out of the room.

"Never mind."

Just moments after the door closes, Lal opens her eyes.

"...Hm."

"Verde?" The scientist acknowledges Skull with a bored glance, scowling at the tray in the younger male's hands.

"Moronic subject." He shoots the younger male a dark glare. Skull ignores it, instead giving Verde a pointed look.

"Skull-sama says you need to eat." He says, plopping the tray onto the scientist's desk, mindful of the scattered documents and test tubes (and Keiman, who currently was sleeping peacefully) on the disorganized wood. A scowl is once again shot his way.

"I need to complete this." Verde states curtly. Skull exhales heavily in response, running a hand through his purple hair. "You won't be saying that when you drop dead from starvation." He mutters, but Verde hears him anyway, and scowls again.

"I won't." Skull's eyebrow twitches once, and he growls softly, snatching up one of the blueprints on the desk.

"What's this, anyway? Just seems like a load of shit to me!" A few seconds later, his eyes widen, but a pale hand forcefully yanks the paper out of his hold, and Verde snarls angrily.

"Don't do that!"

However, Skull is undeterred, and he reaches out (ignoring Verde's violent protests) and points to a spot on the blueprint. "You know that if you put that part there, the robot'll explode, right?"

Raising an eyebrow, Verde follows Skull's finger, and this time, his eyes widen, going over calculations over and over again.

That's true! He quickly turns around, but Skull is already gone, leaving a note fluttering to the ground in his wake.

Verde picks it up.

Eat, man, eat! Ya gonna become a skeleton at this rate! X(

Snorting, he crumples the paper and tosses it in the trash can, going back to his papers. The food could wait. He was right on the verge of completing this project!

But… He glances back at the tray. Then the trash can. The tray. The trash can.

He sighs, and takes the fork.

The things I do for that Lackey…

Colonello thinks that something is wrong when he comes home and Fon doesn't greet him. He suspects that something is wrong when Lichi is strangely absent from its spot on the Hibari's shoulder.

But he knows something is definitely wrong when instead of a smile, a deep scowl is painted on the man's face.

A tactical retreat is in order. He thinks, ignoring Falco's smirk. Yes, it's definitely in order.

He runs like hell.

"Ugh…" Skull groans, staring at the stacks of paperwork in front of him. "Can't I just pay back your money later, Mammon? It's midnight already!"

A soft snort is heard. "You don't even have any money, Lackey."

"I so do!."

As Skull painstakingly works his way through the papers, he quickly gets the feeling of being watched. Turning his head to the right, sweat slides down his cheek as he sees Mammon boring holes into him with his eyes.

"I know the great Skull-sama is handsome, but you don't need to stare at me like tha—YEOW!" He cradles his sore head, whimpering softly.

"You? Handsome? I've seen homeless people with better looks than you." Skull's eyes water comically in response, "Wahhh, so crueeeel…" A few moments of silence pass, and Skull returns to his papers. Mammon, however, simply continues staring at him.

Oh god, this is so awkward. Skull glances discreetly to the right, and inwardly blanches when he finds Mammon's gaze trained on his. Gah!

"Lackey, you shouldn't be leaving your belongings lying around." Uh, come again? He looks up, and does a double-take when he sees his dream journal held in Mammon's hand.

"W-Where did you get that? That's Skull-sama's, you know. Give it back!" The older man smirks.

"Finish those papers first." Skull folds his arms, scowling. "Tch, I figured…" He then looks up.

"Just don't read it. The great Skull-sama's journals are too great for yo—OW! Stop doing that!"

"I will, if you pay me."

"How much?"

"Five billion yen."

"...Forget it."

Hours later, when Skull leaves the room, complaining all the while, Mammon diverts his attention to the plain blue notebook in his hand. Dream journal, huh… He opens the book. "What the Lackey doesn't know won't hurt him."

Half an hour later, Mammon hastily picks up the journal and leaves his room. I need to find Verde.

*: Cinci is 'five' in Romanian.

Oh ho, cliffhanger! Or not. It's for you to decide, really. You like?

Questions, comments, answers they're all accepted!