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Kyouya squints his eyes as the wind rushes past, making an audible whoosh every time the dragon beats his enormous wings and climbs higher, almost to the clouds. He braces one hand against the base of the dragon's foot and the other on the largest claw curled around him before shoving.

Dino looks down at his front leg, not even surprised as Kyouya somehow bests the strength of a dragon and starts squirming out. Dino tightens his grip as much as he can and tosses the human up into the air.

Kyouya reaches the peak of the throw just in front of Dino's eyes and scowls at the herbivore. Dino bravely ignores how suicidal he's feeling and flicks out his long tongue, wrapping it around Kyouya before then abruptly eating the teenager.

It's damp and too warm in the dragon's mouth, although Kyouya can appreciate the dental hygiene. He briefly considers ripping out the tonsils but doesn't want vomit on him as well as spit. He also forgoes digging his way into the lizard's brain because that just seems too messy.

Dino falls from the sky when Kyouya struggles enough to escape the long tongue and pulls out a tooth.

They hit the ground in a large field of wild grass. Kyouya is immediately spat out and Dino whimpers and whines, his huge dragon body flopping around like a walrus, crushing a large radius of flora.

"Stop whining, you herbivore," Kyouya snaps, grossed out at being drenched with saliva. "It's already grown back."

Dino covers himself with his wings and shrinks in size until he appears human once more. He pouts at Kyouya, using his human tongue to poke at his new tooth. It's still sore.

"I thought vampires ate people," Kyouya grumbles. "Not dragons."

Dino abruptly sobers then. "Kyouya, what were you doing in that place?"

"Visiting an Alpha," Kyouya deadpans and then looks around. "Now come on, where's the nearest shower; I feel disgusting."

Dino frowns and doesn't move. "What did the Alpha want with you?"

Kyouya turns to him and glares. "He's a relative and he wanted some company. He wanted to talk to me and we did and it was fine – it was nice."

Dino softens at that. "You know."

Kyouya crosses his arms defensively. "At least he only wants blood," he mutters. "Mother wants far more than that."

"Will you visit him again?" Dino questions with concern.

"Let's go," Kyouya says, pretending to not hear the question.

...

They decide to sell the tooth, since Dino has no use for it and it's dangerous to leave Otherside evidence lying around. Dino wraps his thin tail around the tooth and easily carries it over his head -despite it being bigger and heavier than he is- as they trudge over to the nearest motel about twenty minutes away. Kyouya steals the shower and orders Dino to wash his clothes in the meantime.

Then they take a dragon portal over to a well-known supernatural market. As soon as they step through the barrier into the market, they find a quiet corner and Dino drops the glamour on the tooth he's been carrying.

A mass of people immediately swarm them since dragon parts are rare and often make the strongest potions or rituals. Dino dives straight into negotiations like the dragon he is. He may not want the tooth, but it's in perfect condition and he suffered through getting it ripped out.

Kyouya stares in boredom as Dino plays the crowd like a professional. The teen looks around lazily and soon enough, something catches his interest. Kyouya glances at Dino and slips away into the crowd.

...

"Tsuna!" Takeshi cries, raising a long arm above the crowd and waving over the brunet.

"Takeshi, Ryohei," Tsuna greets back as he trots up. "How have you been?"

"Extreme!" Ryohei roars.

"Yep, saw that coming," Tsuna chuckles. "I asked Reboyama if he wanted to come but he's… uh, he's busy."

"That's okay," Takeshi says cheerfully. "I'm sure we'll meet him eventually. Heaven is big but it's not that big."

"You'd be surprised," Tsuna mutters. "Anyway, shall we go?"

Ryohei grins wide. "I know the best place to get lunch!" he bellows and dives into the crowded market place, Takeshi and Tsuna running after him to keep up.

...

Lambo stretches his arm over his head and groans. New bodies always leave him feeling cramped. He sighs and lets his arms drop. "Where do you want to go?"

"Dunno," Hayato drawls lazily. He lights up a cigarette with a fire conjured on his thumb. When he breathes out the smoke, it's contaminated a pitch black from the tar his body is formed with.

Lambo peers around. "Do you need anything in particular?"

"Not really," Hayato admits. "Just kind of bored. You pick."

Lambo breathes in deep and turns to the left. Hayato saunters after the cerberus, both of them disappearing into the market.

...

"Hibari!" the yellow fluff ball chirps.

"Yes, little one," Kyouya praises. "You got it right this time."

The tiny canary puffs up proudly on Kyouya's outstretched finger. The teenage is perched at the edge of a tall clocktower, several storeys above ground. He can almost see the entire market from here, covered in a protective dome glowing a faint, translucent pink with the occasional purple streaks.

"Hibird," Kyouya decides.

"Hibari," the canary responds in kind.

A breeze ruffles Kyouya's hair and his jacket rises off his back. Hibird stretches out its wings and takes off with the wind. Kyouya watches the yellow ball disappear into the distance, unconcerned. They'll meet each other again eventually.

A sudden swell in noise from below makes Kyouya look down. A white haired angel is bellowing loudly and a silver haired demon is snapping back. The pedestrians give them a wide berth, disturbed by the frantic energy that explodes off the buff angel and the aura of danger that seeps off the demon.

Kyouya frowns in annoyance. He dislikes noise and crowds and is very close to passing his tolerance. He stands from his low crouch and steps off the edge of the clock tower, catching an overhanging edge halfway down and then smoothly dropping the rest of the way. Onto the angel's head.

The man is knocked out cold and Kyouya brushes himself down neatly. He looks up and finds two angels gaping at him, with two demons only a couple steps further away. Everyone else has already been scared away by the man Kyouya just knocked out.

Wonderful timing. Kyouya hasn't fought either of the two races yet.

Lambo laughs nervously, recognising that scent. "I think we took a wrong turn, Hayato." He edges back, grabbing the cambion's sleeve and trying to drag the man with him.

Hayato shakes Lambo away, a scowl on his face. He's still pissed off about the moronic turf-head who bumped into him. If this brat thinks he can scare off Hayato then he's just as stupid as the angel.

Kyouya smirks.

...

Tsuna clasps a hand over his mouth to muffle his desperate panting and pushes back even further into the cerberus. Lambo doesn't complain about being shoved deeper into the empty cardboard box dumped into a trash pile outside of a clothing store. He's really more focused on the monster that was chasing him just seconds ago.

In another box behind the two is Hayato, nursing a wound on his side. Ryohei is presumably still lying on the ground unconscious where Kyouya left him, and Takeshi -the lucky asshole- managed to get away early on in the chase.

"I don't want to die," Lambo whimpers, clinging to the angel he just met.

"We're not going to," Tsuna says, except his words are difficult to hear over the sobbing.

Hayato rolls his eyes at the other two but it still takes him a few more minutes to hesitantly climb out of the slightly damp cardboard. He straightens his clothes, flicks a rotten banana skin off his head and strides out of the disgusting alleyway.

He is Gokudera Hayato, a powerful demon. The only ones he answers to are the Arcobaleno, the best of the best. He's not afraid of some human.

Lambo peeks over Tsuna's shoulder. "Wait, Hayato, that human smells like the - nope, okay he's already gone. Oh my Satan, this will not end well."

...

Hayato storms off for about ten minutes, literally just wandering blindly because he does not know where the human went but he's too prideful to return to Lambo without having taught the brat a lesson.

A fey frantically rushes past, tears in his eyes, and Hayato immediately heads for where the creature just came from. Unfortunately, he does not find the human anywhere, even after walking several blocks.

Hayato pauses abruptly and then backs up a few steps to a small gap between two empty tent stalls where there should definitely not be a glamour unless something illegal is going down. There's a salt line half hidden by the barrier, only broken by a quick swipe through the middle. So the fey wasn't running from the human.

A quiet mutter in demonic tongue and the barrier shatters like glass.

The other angel (What did the brunet call him; Takahata? Takeshi?) is cornered against the brick wall by a group of five werewolves, the other creatures already in partial shift and leering at the lone angel like he's a meal; probably instincts kicking in since the angel's left leg is heavily injured from the insane human.

The angel is smiling but it's sharp and liable to make someone bleed.

Hayato rolls his eyes because he's about eighty percent sure the dumb angel tried to save the fey and got caught instead.

Hayato hates angels but he despises assholes who rely on sheer number to bully people. He has had to deal with more than enough of that bullshit before Reborn picked him up. Plus, there's something like… shared trauma from the human that makes Hayato just a little bit more inclined to defend the angel.

"Takeshi," Hayato calls out firmly. "Come here."

Takeshi looks up at Hayato, shock clouding his features for a moment. The werewolves also look incredulous at being interrupted, especially by a demon. The angel slides past them quickly while they're distracted -limping heavily- and when he gets closer, Hayato steps in front of the other man protectively.

The runes flare to life then and Hayato goes down along with Takeshi.

...

"I hope they're okay," Tsuna frets, looking about the crowded streets.

Lambo has his eyes shut tightly, trying to sift through all of the smells and sounds. He catches something of Hayato but it's muffled – forcefully supressed by the heavy smell of titanium and dried blood. He curses.

"What is it?" Tsuna asks in a panic.

"Poachers," Lambo snarls, his eyes snapping open to reveal an electric green. "How fucking dare they."

There are some humans who look at the Otherside in all it's terrifying glory and decide that they want to bottle it, to put creatures in cages and treat them like pets to be kept behind glass and stared at with smugness.

It's a lucrative business since the humans who want to have their very own Otherside zoo are generally wealthy enough to buy a small country. Poachers (whether they be human or supernatural) deliver their prizes to auctions which then sell the creatures into a life of prison.

They're dolled up as they get paraded around and if they're lucky, the 'owner' takes care of them; bothers to feed them and maybe even provides a cage big enough to lie down in. And when they inevitably become boring and useless to the collector, the creatures are cut up and their parts are used as exotic decorations.

Most creatures end up choosing death instead.

Tsuna flares bright with angel grace and they both take off, weaving through the crowd. The human from before steps into their path, tonfas out, and Tsuna doesn't even hesitate to throw the teen over his shoulder because if it is poachers who took Takeshi then they deserve whatever the teenager does to them. All the fear is gone now, replaced by a protective fury.

Lambo and Tsuna arrive just in time to watch their friends get dragged through a portal. They don't stop –don't hesitate at all- just leap straight through the swiftly closing circle of runes.

They hit the ground in an empty warehouse with several reinforced cages off to one side. There are a mix of species here, mostly werewolves or humans, with around fifty in total. Half a dozen grab the unconscious Hayato and Takeshi before vanishing through yet another portal. The rest all turn to the intruders with anger.

Tsuna tightens his grip on the teen over his shoulder and then simply throws the human at the closest creature.

An albino kitsune watches this all from the sidelines, laughing.