D. Gray-Man and respective characters © Katsura Hoshino (2004)

EDIT: It's come to my attention that there is another story, entitled "Kitten," by the talented Angel Ishtar, floating around on . (It's way better than this, so go read that instead.) The similarities between its second chapter and the story below are scary and numerous, so I want to avoid the possible accusations and finger-pointing by saying that, in my defense, I swear that I had not read her superior writing before posting this. That is all.

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As they neared their destination, Tyki's feeling of relief began to steadily grow. Finally, he felt could be rid of the two Earl-forsaken, newly-made Noah and he could retreat to his room, collapse on his bed, and just drift off into sleep.

But, unfortunately for the Portuguese man, that would not be. Just as soon as he stepped through the threshold, a twin under each arm, he was instantly waylaid by Road. She scrutinized each filthy-dirty child quickly, giving both black and golden heads a cautious poke, getting no more of a response than a half-hearted growl from the dark-haired twin.

"Tyki…they need a bath…" she began, before he cut her off.

"No. Get one of the Akuma to do it. I'm tired and I want to go to bed."

"Tyki…" Road scowled at him in warning.

Regardless, Tyki found himself in the middle of one of the large bathrooms less than ten minutes later, no matter how much he argued and grumbled. Angrily, he none-too-gently deposited the two children on the polished floor and leaned over the ornate tub to fill it.

The golden-haired twin was relatively easy to deal with, obediently holding still as he scrubbed the tiny head and passed a wet rag over the shoulders, then let the child wash the rest of him as he raked a comb through the wet, tangled tendrils of hair. The hard part had been coaxing him away from his brother, and subsequently keeping the other child from diving into the soapy water and protecting him from Tyki and the evil soap's grasp.

And afterwards, it was easy to wrap him up in a soft towel and set him down near the sink, and watch as the child quickly fell asleep, as tired as he was.

His darker-haired twin, however, was much more of a pain. Tyki quickly decided that he was a complete little devil (Which was rather ironic, considering the Noah's alliance with the Earl and the Akuma.), after it took him a good fifteen minutes or so to hunt him down and catch him when he escaped the bathroom and led the older Noah on a wild goose chase throughout the mansion. And even after that, he had kept up a constant struggle on the way back, making it impossible for Tyki to hold him still. He refused to stay in one place like his brother had, fussed when he was confronted with the washcloth, and yowled when soap ran into his eyes because of his squirming. More than once, Tyki was tempted to dunk his little head under the water and hold it there for a short while.

But even he was not that cruel.

Eventually, though, after the water in the tub had turned a murky shade of gray-brown, both of the Noah children were clean. Or, in the case of the little black-haired holy terror, as clean as they were going to get. Leaving them on the bathroom floor for a few minutes, Tyki went to his room, returning shortly with two of his worn-out shirts. They looked like white tents draped over the skinny bodies of the twins, shirttails dragging on the ground, almost a tripping hazard, and sleeves extending well past their hands. But Tyki could care less about that; all he wanted to do was be rid of the little monsters and hole himself up in his room, get out of his wet clothes, and sleep for days.

Leaving the tub to drain, and abandoning the sodden and dirtied towels where they lay for an Akuma maid to clean up, Tyki trudged down the hall to the living quarters of the mansion, twins following a safe distance behind. Stopping in front of the door of an empty room, he lazily pushed it open and called to the two children.

"Come here, you brats. This is your room. Now, goodnight." And with a rough shove, he showed the two little boys into their new room, and left them to stare at his retreating back as he stumbled into his own room further down the hall.

He hit the bed face-down not a moment later, wet clothes left to drip-dry while draped over a chair, and boots kicked off haphazardly somewhere near the foot of his bed. And he was almost instantly asleep.

Tyki awoke some time later, when it was still dark, and lay on his bed for a while, trying to hazily figure out what in the world could have roused him. The answer came when he felt something shift against his back, and he half-rolled over, only to find the twins curled up together like little lost puppies. They looked at him blearily when he moved, but before they closed their eyes again, they whispered simultaneously…

"Goodnight."