Tetsuya Kusakabe, tall for his age with a short pompadour pressed against his head, is currently running for his life.
A burst of killing intent slams into Tetsuya's back and almost seems to launch him forward, the child kicking into a faster sprint despite his body protesting more exercise. The remaining birds and small wildlife lurch from the crashing wave of dark intentions and take off as fast as they can, rustling trees and bushes as they call out warnings in their own tongue.
Namimori forest is dark and damp from the rain a few days ago. Tetsuya barely knows the place and every root is keen to trip him up and sacrifice him to the creature following, as if hoping the chaser will leave once it has its prey.
A blur of dark colour leaps from a tree branch to the earth in Tetsuya's peripheral vision, the creature skittering between trees before vanishing entirely into the shadows.
It's almost diner time and Tetsuya is very late and his parents will be so worried and Tetsuya is going to die here and the only thing people will find of his body is bones and torn clothing because that creature is going to eat him!
A roar rips itself from his throat because if he's going down then he's going down swinging. Tetsuya whips around and charges at the last spot he saw the creature, a flare of deep green exploding from the child. The glow, harsh and carrying a bolt of something akin to electricity, zig zags through the trees and slashes deep marks into the bark, leaving trails of burning wood in the pattern of a lightning strike.
The toxic green lights up the forest in a wide arc around the child but it's too much, far too much. Tetsuya staggers and crumples, his running momentum forcing the child to roll across the forest floor before coming to a stop at the base of a large tree. Tetsuya gasps for breath, suddenly painfully tired like his energy was squeezed out of him through his pores.
A body isn't supposed to have its limiters taken off, and to an untrained flame user it can be incredibly dangerous, especially to a first generation child who is the only one of his family to unlock the Incendiary Defence.
Tetsuya is struggling to keep his eyes open but not even the threat of being eaten will make his body stand.
Footsteps, barely there in the quiet of the forest, approach from Tetsuya's left. The child tenses. He… doesn't want to look. What kind of horrors would he see if he turned to face the creature? Would it steal his soul?
Tetsuya shakes away the thoughts and lets his head loll to the side, blinking up at the creature he's been running from. The figure is wrapped in a dark cloak that flares behind it as it moves. It crouches over Tetsuya, head tilting to the side like a curious bird.
"I like green," the creature mutters.
Tetsuya blinks. It sounds like a child and its height looks like a child, smaller than Tetsuya.
"I'll keep you," it continues and the cloak is suddenly pulled off and dropped beside Tetsuya's head as the creature stands. "Sodium borate," the creature murmurs in contemplation. "Nabo?"
Tetsuya gazes up at the smaller boy who hovers over his newly caught prize, looking smug. It's finally too much and the adrenaline crash takes Tetsuya into unconsciousness.
.
Kyouya heads out the next day and retraces the steps to his newest glow stick's den, stopping by the other two houses he's memorised to pick up his herbivores.
He had to call reinforcements yesterday because he wasn't able to carry green by himself, but it was a good bonding experience for the herbivores despite green being unconscious.
Even though it was pretty dark last night they were able to find green's house easily enough, and much to Kyouya's delight; it was a family of unicorns.
Kyouya should not pick favourites, it's detrimental to pack bonding, but he likes green the best. The other child has yet to grow into his horn, the swirl of black only short compared to the parents, but one day Kyouya's unicorn will be magnificent.
Ignoring the two bouncing herbivores behind him, Kyouya steps up to green's house and rings the doorbell. The mother unicorn answers with a smile and another thank you for returning Tetsuya after he exhausted himself at the park.
Kyouya leaves the herbivore secret code to orange who can speak the language very well. The silver eyed boy thinks that the fluffy hair might have something to do with it, perhaps a facet of the code that Kyouya has yet to pick up on.
.
Tetsuya's mother calls him down and he groans but rolls off the bean bag. He's still a little bit tired from yesterday, and rather concerned that his mother believes the creature to actually be human. She wouldn't stop going on about how cute and well mannered 'Kyo-kun' is.
You do not give nicknames to homicidal changelings.
Tetsuya grumbles but drags himself down the stairs, only to find the creature and two others inside his house. One has a backpack and looks like he's adorably excited while the other bounces on his toes and mumbles 'extreme friendship' under his breath.
While Tetsuya is still frozen at the foot of the stairs, his mother returns with a backpack and hands it down to Tetsuya, absent mindedly prodding her pompadour back into place. The creature looks worryingly fascinated with the motion.
"You let them inside?" Tetsuya blurts out in horror.
"Have a good time playing with your friends, and remember to be back for lunch, okay sweetie?" she chirps happily, completely ignoring the very real threat standing in the living room. She smiles and pats Tetsuya's regent hair style before she ushers them all out and shuts the door in Tetsuya's face.
He tenses and slowly turns.
.
Kyouya steps forward, short enough that he slides under the pompadour instead of getting hit on the head. "Resistance is futile," he proclaims.
The boy still tries to run.
Kyouya leaves his tonfa in the bag orange is carrying in favour of dashing after the escaping herbivore. He bounces off the letter box so he has the assistance of gravity when he tackles the larger form of green, and they hit the grass of the front lawn. Kyouya flicks his lighter to life.
"Wait!" orange shrieks, skidding to a stop beside the two with yellow not far behind. They need to band together right now and save their new friend from Kyouya's odd form of playing. "Uh, maybe we could show him?" Tsuna tries. "You know, because your lighter might get destroyed again?"
Kyouya hums but tucks away the lighter and stands, moving away from the wide-eyed Tetsuya. "You," Kyouya says imperiously, gesturing at green. "They will teach you to explode properly."
They find out Tetsuya has electricity when he runs again and accidentally fries a car, overloading the entire thing when Kyouya chases him straight into it.
...
Omake - Lighter 2
Byakuran stares at the shorter male who seems to be slowly circling closer, some kind of weapon hidden Kyouya's hand.
"Uh, Tsunayoshi, can you come in here?" Byakuran calls out, unwilling to make a move for the door and startle Kyouya into attacking. "Your Skylark is... Tsunayoshi? Tsunayoshi!"