13. Riceball

"Okaa-san, please teach me how to cook!"

Nana didn't know how to respond when her seven-year-old child suddenly announced that he wanted to learn how to cook. She supposed that her son did seem a little interested when she was cooking but she assumed that it was simply a pace. Well, it seemed fine all things considered.

"Okay, I'll teach you," she smiled lightly, confused at the sudden situation but nonetheless happy for her son. After meeting Reborn and finding out her son's unusual power to see supernatural beings, she was glad for a normal change like teaching him how to cook. Still, she was interested about the reason why. "But why do you want to learn how to cook, Tsu-kun?"

Oddly, the small brunet deflated a little and his eyes flashed in worry, "Well, you know about Enma-kun, Okaa-san?"

A thoughtful look made its way to the smiling woman and it took some time for her to realize who the other was talking about. "Your friend in your class? Did something happened to Enma-kun?" she frowned in concern and remembered the red-haired boy, who looked unusually pale and thin for his age. If she remembered correctly, this Enma was Tsuna's only normal friend but he was too sickly. It worried her greatly.

"No, no! Nothing bad really happened," his little boy assured right away and scratched his head in embarrassment. "I just think that he looked really thin! And pale! He said that he was fine when I asked him but well, you told me how being a little pale and thin is bad for my health and well…"

"I guess that I'm just worried, Okaa-san. Enma-kun's the first friend that I have in my school and I want to help him! Then, I thought that I should try to make him eat more so that he'll stop being thin and pale. You always told me how food can be a good medicine and since the amulet didn't work, I decided that food might work…"

Watching how her son talked about his obvious concern for his friend was heartwarming for Nana. She supposed that she felt relieved. Her son finally started bonding with someone other than her. The supernatural creatures that her son befriended still counted but they were respectful of time management that they didn't visit much.

As for Reborn, he didn't count since she still couldn't appreciate the devil for kidnapping her son last week but she respected the tall creature when he protected her son from other creatures, who were more malicious towards Tsuna.

Shaking her head to avoid any more topic about mystical beings, she turned her attention to the expecting eyes of her son. She held back a chuckle at the cute sight and smiled softy instead, "Well, you can just ask me to cook for Enma-kun, Tsu-kun. I don't mind."

"No!" the little rascal pouted determinedly and his honey-brown hues slightly turned orange. He shook his head frantically and stared at his mother in conviction. "I thought about it and I want to do it myself, Okaa-san! I really want to do this myself!"

'Oh my...,' the brown-haired woman blinked in astonishment, feeling a strange pride and sadness at her unwavering son. She didn't know how Reborn had done it but the devil was changing her son into a confident one. 'What did Reborn-san do to Tsu-kun? It's only a week but there's already some progress.'

She had seen how her son had started reacting to his bullies, which caused to feel a tiny guilt. She had done all that she could to help with his bullies but she felt that it was not enough whenever her son arrived at home with some injuries. She felt relieved and confused when the injuries decreased but now, she realized what caused it.

A slight dark emotion crept into her heart. There would always be thankfulness to Reborn for making her son more assured of himself but nothing stopped the smallest hint of envy for not being the one to do it. She was the mother here and it was supposed to be her job.

"Okaa-san?"

Blinking to stop her negative feelings, her eyes found themselves facing a pair of brown orbs alike to hers with more innocent and naivety. She felt her mouth curved up and she settled her anxious heart. There was nothing she could do with the past but she could help her son now. That was all that mattered.

She smiled fondly, "How about we start with riceball, Tsu-kun?"

Producing a sunny smile that could practically melt anyone, the small boy nodded excitedly and jumped happily. He looked so free that Nana could imagine white wings at her son's back. She giggled, already forgetting all her insecurities and problems.

'Tsu-kun's so precious and cute.'

The mother and her son went to the kitchen and started cooking. She felt relieved that there was enough rice that they could practice with.

"You're a natural at cooking, Tsu-kun," she praised after some time of practicing and looked at the riceballs that her son had made proudly. It seemed like the boy had inherited something else from her mother other than appearance and kindness.

Tsuna blushed brightly and scratched his head modestly, "I don't know. It's just some riceballs and I'm clumsier and slower than Okaa-san…"

She shook her head in disagreement and patted her son's head. "That's because I have experience, Tsu-kun," she explained reassuringly, her eyes filled with unmistaken pride. "You're doing well for a beginner."

There was still some lingering doubt, mostly due to the previous mockery he had experience from others but the boy nodded in accomplishment.

"Now, what about we try making riceballs for Enma-kun in mind?" Nana suggested and added when she noticed the slight worried glance on the riceballs they had made. "Don't worry about these riceballs. We can eat them later or even give them to Reborn and the others if you want. They won't be wasted."

The seven-year-old brunet bit his lip nervously and said, "Could I make the riceballs myself tomorrow? Making them now might not be a good idea and I want to make them myself. But can you help me on thinking of what to add in the riceballs?"

"Of course, that's fine," the older brunette felt like giggling at how her son looked like a girl wanting to impress her boyfriend with her cooking. "As for the fillings, what do you think Enma-kun likes to eat?"

Tsuna frowned, thinking hard of the question. "Now, that I think about it, I haven't seen Enma-kun eat anything," the browned-haired woman slightly felt nervous at that statement, her mind thinking of a mythical creature that didn't eat human foods before she shook her head at the ridiculous idea. Enma couldn't possibly be another creature. "He does like drinking tomato juice."

Nana wondered how tomatoes would work with rice.

"Well, it could work."

…

"Enma-kun!" the small brunet tried to call the older boy as soon as their teacher announced that it was lunchtime. He watched with slight hesitation as the red-haired boy waited for him to say what he wanted. He felt nervous but he was determined to finish this. He closed his eyes tightly for confidence and pushed the red lunchbox to the other. "Here!"

"Eh?" Enma blinked in confusion but took the lunchbox uncertainly. "What's this for, Tsuna-kun?"

The said boy turned red from head to toe and he looked anywhere but the other boy. "I thought that you're too thin and pale so I wanted to help," he muttered shyly. "A-and I decided to cook for you to make you healthier!"

"I could only make riceballs for now but I'll try my best to cook for you every day until you're healthy!"

The red-haired boy flushed brightly, his blush becoming as red as his hair and he looked away from the cute brunet. There was a few moment of silence before he started to eat the riceballs. He mumbled in embarrassment, "You didn't need to do that. I am healthy, already."

Smiling fondly, Tsuna waited for the taller boy to look at him. When he did, the brunet could only say, "I wanted to."

Enma blushed even harder if possible.

…

However, unnoticed by the brunet, the vampire-pretending-to-be-a-human cringed for having to eat human food. The taste of tomatoes made it slightly better but he still felt like vomiting. There was a reason why vampires drink blood.

14. Interest

'I wonder how long these humans will be staying,' Byakuran wondered in boredom and his fingers twitched lightly. Despite his smiling face, he felt rather annoyed by the situation. 'Why did Aria have to be such a human-lover? They're just simple idiots, who are better off being dead than alive. Speaking of which, can I kill them?'

"Sorry for the inconvenience, Aria-chan," the brown-haired woman bowed respectively and gestured her small son to do the same. "I forgot to bring my umbrella since I didn't think that it would rain."

Aria waved her hands in the air to portray that she didn't mind. "It's fine. I actually find something interesting because of this," she said mysteriously, gaining confused looks from the two humans and an interested one from the other creature.

The said creature raised an eyebrow and subtly followed the older creature's glance. It led him to the small brunet, who tried to hide himself to his mother. Observing the other more, he realized what fascinated the korrigan. The boy carried what seemed to be a tasty smell and power that all creatures thirsted.

'Are you finally going to embrace your true self and kidnap the small human?' the necromancer asked mentally in glee. 'If so, count me in!'

Glaring at the corner of her eyes, the beautiful woman coughed to calm herself as she answered, 'Don't anger me, Byakuran. I'll have you know that I can easily throw you back to your house and let you suffer with your training.'

It immediately silenced the white-haired boy.

"Well, anyway, I want you to meet my nephew," the dark-haired woman gave said nephew a warning glance for a split second and smiled kindly to the two humans although the boy, the two creatures noticed, grew wary at them as if knowing that they're not normal. "His name is Byakuran. He's staying with me for now."

"Ara," the female human briefly looked excited when her glance turned to the young necromancer and patted her son's shoulder a little. She spoke with a quiet voice, which normal humans couldn't hear. "How about you try being friends with him, Tsu-kun?"

Unnoticed by his mother, the boy turned pale as white that the two creatures could almost smell the fear coming off the other. "Wait, Okaa-san-," he tried to stop his mother but the woman already turned her attention to two creatures.

"This is my son, Tsunayoshi. I hope Byakuran-kun and Tsu-kun would get along well."

Wearing a smile that hid its malice, Byakuran glanced at the terrified boy with an amused face and thought wickedly, 'Tsu-kun, huh? Well, this will be interesting.'

"I think that we'll get along well, Tsu-kun."

…

'RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN-' his mind practically shouted in panic but Tsuna couldn't move his feet. He had a bad feeling since they met Aria, which confused him for he liked the pretty lady but now, he realized what the bad feeling was all about. Far too late to do anything, his scared eyes glance shyly at the white-haired boy.

It was the same boy, who he passed by before and there was still the same white color surrounding the other. Actually, the smaller thought that the color was much darker and larger than before and frankly, the mere fact that this boy's emptiness just increased scared him than the strong presence he felt from Byakuran.

"A-are y-you g-going t-to e-eat m-me?" he couldn't stop himself from asking aloud in terror and he immediately hid behind his confused mother, who tried to push him forward. His mother meant well but sometimes, she was just oblivious. Aria-san even glanced at the white-haired boy in warning and flinched at his question.

"Tsu-kun, don't joke-"

"Maybe, I will," Byakuran smiled, showing all of his white teeth and leaned forward. He would have gotten past the brown-haired boy's personal space if it wasn't for Aria interrupting him with a harsh glare.

The dark-haired woman pulled her nephew away and looked apologetically at the light-haired pair, "I'm sorry, Nana-chan, Tsuna-kun. Byakuran likes to tease people too much."

"No, Tsu-kun's at fault as well," Nana shook her head and glanced at her child in confusion. "He's shy towards strangers but he shouldn't have asked that. Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna looked down in shame for disappointing his mother but he still felt very much afraid of the other. He closed his eyes and breathed in and out to calm himself. "I-I'm s-sorry, Aria-san," he bowed in apology and stared down the two, who unnerved him, with eyes silently questioning if they would eat him. "…B-Byakuran-san."

"That's fine, Tsuna-kun," Aria-san smiled reassuringly in return and shook her head, answering the silent question. "Some people had asked the same question to Byakuran, too. He's just that good at scaring and teasing people."

Byakuran held an amused smirk and looked at him with an unreadable glance. It took the brunet a surprise because there was a slight change in the other's color. The white color had a tiny hint of violet and he wondered what that color meant.

He swallowed the remaining fear inside of him and asked the other boy, only stuttering once, "I-is there something with my face?"

The color around the white-haired boy intensified and he finally had a name for it. The white with hinted violet was interest or fascination. It was something he saw once with Reborn but that time, the color violet was larger.

"Nothing," the white-haired answered with the same smirk and grabbed his hand suddenly, surprising all the other people in the house. "I'll be borrowing you for now! Come on!"

"HIEEE?!"

…

Aria chuckled at the sight of the future exorcist and the future Necromancer King playing date. She couldn't see how the two would have acted in their youth but it was nice to see that they got along well. Her watchful eyes looked at the white-haired boy fondly.

'Byakuran seems to have found something interest about life,' she thought happily. 'That's good. He was a little too empty that I was scared of his future. Still, I was worried there. I thought that Byakuran would really eat Tsuna-kun…'

15. Babysitting

After calming down the small acheri with difficulty, Tsuna asked why the other was even here when it looked like she was too young. She also didn't seem like a new spirit from a dead human so the exorcist thought that she was a ward from a powerful spirit or something like that.

"I-pin was with Master," the female spirit explained, her eyes glowing in delight at the mention of her master. "Master saved me from being destroyed by mean humans and he started to train me for my protection. We were supposed to go to one of Master's friends but I got separated from Master because of another attack. Humans are really so cruel! They injured Master!"

The young brunet could feel the sincerity of the other but it felt rather awkward because he was a human himself and he had been ordered to exorcise the other. He wondered why the spirit had not turned wary to him.

"I wandered around in search of Master but I had no luck. I was getting tired so I settled here for a while. I never realized that my presence would cause trouble. I'm sorry!"

"It's fine," the human sighed slightly but smiled at the small spirit. She was not at fault with this and if the one she called Master was a powerful spirit, it would bring trouble messing with her. "I think I know someone who could help you. Do you think you can trust me with this?"

I-pin looked confused and leaned down, sniffing him for a moment, "Why wouldn't I trust another spirit? Especially one who smelled really nice?"

"…what?" Tsuna gaped at her and opened her mouth to speak. He quickly closed it when no words came out. He tried to form the right words to correct the misunderstanding but he could only say tactlessly, "You do know that I'm a human, right? An exorcist, too…"

Staring at him with wide eyes, the spirt suddenly screamed in horror and backed away in fright. "H-how?" she muttered fearfully. "Your scent is filled with many creatures! I can't even smell one human from you!"

"Way to state the obvious that I'm only friends with creatures…"

The newbie exorcist sulked. It was going to take a while for them to get on. At least, the acheri realized that he was not an enemy.

…

Kawahira raised an eyebrow at the spirit hiding behind his student's legs. He wondered if he should really surprise. His students was a magnet for creatures. Still, he had to ask, "So what's her story? And I really should remind you, Sawada-kun, that this place is for training, not babysitting."

The said student looked ashamed at his actions. He supposed that it was enough. He took pleasure in seeing many creatures, who the young Sawada attracted. The only problem laid on the fact that it was forbidden for creatures other than familiars to be in his place.

"Sorry, Kawahira-san," the small brunet bowed slightly and scratched his head in embarrassment. "I know that. I just can't help it. I don't have any place to go to. My mother might freak if she found out that I'm keeping some creatures that are not my familiar."

He looked around in confusion and asked in wonder, "Speaking of which, are they all gone?"

"You mean, the other creatures that you dragged here?" the white-haired man fixed his eyeglasses and smiled slightly. "They already left and they also wanted to thank you for helping them."

"I see. That's great," Sawada smiled happily before frowning when he glanced at the spirit behind his legs. "Oh, right. Kawahira-san, this is I-pin-chan. She's an acheri, who's looking for her master."

He blinked at that and felt his interest widened. It was not every day that one could meet a ward spirit, especially from that creature. "Well, that's troubling, Sawada-kun," he said nonchalantly, making the female spirit retreat from her hiding place. "Masters are hard to find because they hide their presence and of course, I-pin-chan can't really stay here for long unless she's a familiar."

"But I-pin-chan still doesn't know how to fight well," the young exorcist retorted worriedly. "And she needs guidance since she's just a young spirit."

Hiding a potential plan, the older man suggested with a smirk, "Well, you could always register her as your other familiar. That way, she can stay here and can go with you in your mission. It'll be easier to find a master, too."

"Eh? But-"

"I'm fine with it," I-pin nodded stubbornly, gripping on the human's hand for comfort. "Tsuna-nii is nice and warm. I don't mind it."

"Well, I do."

'Oh,' Kawahira watched in amusement and interest as the dark Ankou appeared, surprising the human and small spirit. He slyly grinned at the sight before him. 'It seems like someone's being possessive. That's the first time that I saw Bermuda look like this.'

…

"Exorcist," Bermuda muttered menacingly and glared at the two, making the brunet immediately pulled his hand away from the spirit. His angry orbs watched narrowly as his exorcist glanced back at him with a tiny fear before his human hesitantly walked towards him.

Having Tsunayoshi by his side, the death spirit relaxed slightly but his black eyes told the other spirits one thing, 'Mine.'

Checkerface chuckled. "Well, it seems like that's a no," he said with a hint of teasing to the Ankou. He patted the small spirit's head and put his hands on the air when she hissed hostilely. "There is always the option of I-pin-chan being a helper."

"Like how Reborn helps with the Vongola Clan?"

It was not the right thing for the exorcist to say since Bermuda immediately increased his dreadful presence. The human had to hold the other so that he would calm down.

"Yup, like that," the white-haired man replied, unaffected by the presence unlike the Tsunayoshi and the weak spirit. "But in I-pin-chan's case, she would just deliver stuffs. Don't worry! It's safe."

The brunet turned to the small spirit without taking his hand off the familiar in case Bermuda lost control again. He asked sincerely, "Are you okay with this, I-pin-chan?"

The acheri looked reluctant but one stare at the taller spirit made her lose confidence. She nodded with a tight smile.

As if sensing the desire to comfort the child spirit, Bermuda held his human possessively in one arm.

16. False Identity

Enma took one glance at the white-haired and concluded that he was also a creature, who was pretending to be a human. He wondered if they could be friends but the idea was quickly dismissed when the guy promptly tried to drag his only friend.

He interrupted the attempt by grabbing Tsuna's other hand and he glared at the other creature. "What are you doing?" he asked, trying to avoid growling in front of his human friend. "I was talking to Tsuna-kun."

"Well, I was about to hang out with Tsu-kun," Byakuran smirked with hidden malice as he tugged the hand he was holding. "…fake human-san."

Flashing his red eyes in anger, the red-haired boy glared, "I don't want to hear that from a pretender like you."

Tsuna glanced at his two human friends in confusion. He had thought that they would get along well but the red and green color around them proved that they didn't. He felt oddly guilty about it. He was definitely missing something.

Black-chan: Ahem. So this chapter is all about bonding and it's long!

For #13, Nana and Tsuna are really fooled by Enma here about being a human but poor Enma, whenever Tsuna tried to help him, it seemed to be worse for him. Apparently, I'm writing vampires to be hateful of human foods except for tomatoes. And also, Tsuna just indirectly asked to marry Enma! I mean, in Japan, I think that there's this custom or saying about how cooking miso soup (I think?) everyday means marrying or something. Also, Reborn did teach Tsuna some stuffs but it's not his chapter so we're not going in details.

#14, can I just say that I love writing child!Byakuran more than the adult one? So a child!Byakuran is still a shit but a cute one nonetheless but you have to wonder why he acted like how he did in last chapter. And Aria's a korrigan because korrigan are creatures who can predict the future plus seers and oracles seem like an obvious choice.

#15, here's what happened to I-pin if anyone's curious. Also, apparently, Bermuda hates sharing his status as Tsuna's familiar even to a child like I-pin. Fortunately, Kawahira likes hiring children for delivery services…wait, is this child labor?

#16, apparently, Enma and Byakuran met in Tsuna's childhood…it does not end up well. So Byakuran x Tsuna x Enma anyone? The tension is really high here and poor Tsuna, he's really confused… Still, the initial plan was supposed to be a fight between Byakuran and Xanxus or Enma and Fon but then, I thought that Byakuran and Enma could work, too. (Now, I'm gonna have to rethink about who Xanxus and Fon would fight with…)