KHR Themes
Notes: This will be a collection of short ficlets for the Hitman Reborn series. These stray ficlets will mostly be pairing oriented, but I'll try to have some humor, friendship, and general fan fics in the mix as well. Most of these prompts will be taken from various Live journal communities, but feel free to drop me some pairing (hetero only please) and prompt/theme suggestions in the review box. Please read and enjoy.
Disclaimer: All rights to Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira Amano.
Title: Dog Person and Cat Person
Theme: 45 Animal (Table 1) from 100_situations
Rating: PG
Characters: Chrome, Yamamoto, Box Animals and mention of the Ninth Rain and Mist Guardians (possible YamaChrome if you squint)
Setting: Post Shimon arc- so possible spoilers if you aren't up to date with the Shimon arc
Chrome was surprised to learn 'he' was meant to be her final test. Uncertain of the choice, the girl directed her gaze to the tall dark-skinned man who had served as her mentor for this training period.
Bounche Croquant stared down his nose at the girl, who bit her bottom lip then timidly looked away. Arms crossed over his broad chest, Bounche observed his comrade Schnitten spar with Yamamoto.
"He'll be your challenge…" he began as Yamamoto gave a broad upswing of his sword, only to change hands at the last minute, knocking the Ninth Rain Guardian back.
"Because he can adapt quickly to situations, therefore your job will be to addle his senses to slow him down."
Chrome took a step back, the start of a retreat; "But…"
"Not today, but soon. You're still not ready." Bounche instructed before he turned to leave. Chrome gave one last glance to the swordsmen before following behind the other Mist Guardian.
"So my opponent will be Chrome?" Takeshi repeated. Sitting across from him Schnitten nodded, patting his gelled hair down, "Eventually. Bounche wants to give her a little more time before you two actually face off."
"Ah…" Takeshi uttered, a troubled look crossing his features before taking a sip of water. "Do you two not get along?" Schnitten inquired, scratching the x-shaped scar on his cheek while waiting for his student's response.
"Not exactly...I really don't know a lot about Chrome to agree or disagree with her."
The other man smiled, "That's the Mist for you. Enigmatic and kind of arrogant in that way."
The younger of the swordsmen thought about the assessment, "I could be wrong, but I don't think Chrome avoids people because she's arrogant. Shy…maybe."
"Don't think about it too much, Takeshi" Schnitten advised. "You'll learn soon enough, people have their roles to fulfill and usually you can read a person's character by what part they play in the grander scheme of things."
Although Takeshi had learned a lot from the older Rain Guardian, he couldn't wholeheartedly agree about the roles of the Guardians defining them.
In between their studies and practice with their mentors, Chrome managed to slip away and find a quiet space in the gardens of the Vongola manor. They had been living in Italy for two months, pretty much studying all the things they should have learned in school during the time they were fixing the Future or engaged in conflicts. Along with their academics though, classes concerning Italy's language, culture, and history; on top of training with the Ninth Guardians.
Chrome started feeling homesick and it grew more and more every day. Granted, she really didn't have a home to return to or people waiting on her since Ken and Chikusa didn't even seem to care she was leaving them behind; Chrome still had moments where she wanted to go back to Japan.
Thinking she could afford a distraction, something to take her thoughts off the two boys and the abandoned amusement park; Chrome opened the book she brought out and started to read. However, an interruption jolted her into alertness when something landed on the ground with a 'thud' then rolled along the grass to her feet.
Chrome peered over the backing of her book, looking down at the ball resting by her left ankle.
"Where did this come from…" she started to ask, bending down to reach for the toy until a dog with short light brown and white fur came bounding up and took the ball.
Chrome blinked as the puppy grunted around the ball in its mouth, curled tail twitching in excitement. The dog had an enormous metal collar with blue jewels hanging off and a sash tied around its stocky middle, three swords sheathes attached to the sash.
The dog dropped the ball at Chrome's shoes before sitting down, blue eyes looking up expectantly at the girl while the curled tail resumed wiggling in anticipation.
Chrome hesitated for a moment before grabbing the ball. Pulling her arm back, Chrome threw it as far as she could; it arched and landed in a hedge only to pop back out and roll. The akita eagerly took off after it and turned right around to bring it back to Chrome, trotting proudly with the ball clenched between canine teeth.
When the ball plopped on top of her shoes again, Chrome figured her book would have to wait until the creature in front of her was worn out.
Two more ball tosses, then Chrome heard someone calling out to the dog.
"Jirou!" 'That's right…it's one of Yamamoto's Box Animal.' Chrome recalled. She had only seen it once during their time in Future Namimori. Sure enough, the Rain Guardian appeared at the entrance of the hedge maze.
Brown eyes blinked as he spied Chrome holding Jirou's toy. "Oh, now I see. You ran off to find a pretty girl to play fetch with you instead. Guess I'm not good enough, huh?" he asked while kneeling in the grass to teasingly ruffle the dog's short fur.
Chrome blushed at being called 'pretty', only to tell herself it was all a joke. Rising up from the patio bench, she extended the ball to Jirou's owner.
"He…he wouldn't leave me alone until I threw it a couple of times" she explained, as if feeling there had to be a reason for her being in the animal's company.
"That's alright. I figured he ran off because this little guy hates training seriously. Normally I have to keep throwing the ball until my arms are sore just to tire him out." Takeshi replied with a smile, his hands rubbing the dog's ears once more before standing up to take the ball from Chrome.
"Thank you." Once Takeshi had the ball, Jirou panted and wiggled his tail, leaning up on his master's knees to beg for a long toss. The baseball player didn't disappoint and sent the ball sailing through the air, which the akita inu darted after.
The teenagers took a moment to watch Jirou before Chrome turned to the Rain Guardian.
"Um…Bounche-sa…Bounche mentioned we would spar together at some point." Takeshi nodded in response, "Yeah, my mentor told me that too."
"I'm not sure if it's a good idea." Chrome confessed. "Hm? How so? Are you afraid I'll hurt you on purpose?"
Chrome blinked then waved her hands, "N-no. I know that you would never do something like that, Yamamoto."
"Takeshi," he corrected. Chrome pursed her lips for a moment, looking uncertain. "Come on, everyone calls you 'Chrome'. It's only fair, right?" he asked, hands tucked behind his head.
"I guess…" she muttered though still looking unsure. "I know you're not the kind of person who'd…go out of his way to harm someone."
"Neither are you. Now that it's clear we won't kill each other, try not to worry about it so much, okay?" Takeshi asked.
"I wasn't…" Chrome sighed; she didn't know how to phrase what she wanted to say. "I don't want to be a disappointment or slow down your progress."
"So long as you go all out, no one can say you're a disappointment." Takeshi replied, trying his best to bolster confidence in the girl.
At that moment Jirou returned and dropped the ball to Chrome again. "Ah no fair, you're stealing my dog from me, Chrome" the Rain Guardian teased.
Chrome felt a little embarrassed, "It wasn't my intention…" she offered the ball for Takeshi to throw but the boy shook his head.
"Nah, you do the honors."
Chrome tossed the ball out beyond the entrance to the hedges and into a field. After Jirou gave chase and rolled around in the grass with the ball, Chrome turned in time to catch Takeshi quietly observing her.
Not knowing why, the girl felt her cheeks grow warm before looking away. "I think…Chrome is a cat person" the swordsman commented.
A violet colored eye blinked, "I like cats, but dogs are fine with me too."
Takeshi crossed arms over his chest, looking serious and shaking his head. "That's no good though. You have to be one or the other. Dogs can sense it when people like cats more. You're going to break Jirou's heart once he figures it out."
"He's your dog though." Chrome protested just as the animal in question trotted up to the two humans and glanced back and forth to its master and the newcomer.
Kneeling on the grass again, fingers running over the Akita's short yet thick fur, Takeshi explained, "Ownership is kind of like a foul ball. Doesn't really count, because if a dog likes someone more than his master, they like that person."
Chrome didn't quite get the baseball analogy, yet she remembered Gokudera-san one time complaining about how everything equated- in some fashion or another- to baseball with the Rain.
"I…guess."
"Here, I'll show you. Hey Jirou…"
The dog perked its ears, head cocked to one side, full attention directed at the teenage boy. "Who do you like more?" Takeshi pointed to himself, "Me?" Then directed to Chrome, "Or her?"
A momentary pause, then the puppy rose up and walked over to Chrome before flopping down at her side.
"Well that settles it. He picks you."
'What a strange afternoon.' Chrome mused once it was time for her and Yamamoto to head their separate ways. Jirou followed her a little while, but eventually returned to the Rain's side.
Whether it was his intention or not, Chrome felt a little bit better about their impending fight. She wad determined to try hard and make it challenging for Takeshi when the time came.
Once the Mist Guardian entered the manor, Takeshi patted Jirou's head before praising him, "Good boy."
Notes: Not really shippy I know, more like a sort of friendship…maybe hopes for more in the future. Anyway, please submit ships, characters, and themes/prompts for me to do next. Only limitation I have is no shounen ai/shoujo ai- hetero ships only please. Thanks for reading!
