For etherealtsuki on the hitman-reborn community on LJ. Please enjoy :D
Once a month, Sasagawa Kyoko made her way to the little bakery in Namimori's shopping district to celebrate her once a month self-appreciation day. The sweet shoppe was quaintly out of place, like something from a storybook, the way it was surrounded by modern stores the first place. It reminded her of the fairy tale places Ryohei would read about to her when they were younger.
The outside of the bakery was a pastel yellow with white sloping roofs trimmed with doily-like designs. Even in the city, underneath the windows and on each side of the door were pots of colorful flowers that looked out at passersby, beckoning them to the sweet cakes and desserts waiting for them inside the bakery.
When Kyoko opened the Dutch door to the shop, the silver little bell hanging above the door jingled and a sweet unidentifiable scent - something like a mix of strawberries and cream - welcomed her.
"Welcome!" The girl behind the counter greeted, wearing a smile almost as sugary as the pastries encased in the glass counters.
Kyoko smiled in return before there was a beeping noise coming from the kitchen in the back.
"Aw crap! I forgot about the cakes in the oven! Sorry, be right back!" Kyoko, a little wide-eyed at the girl's sudden change in behavior, just watched as she abruptly rushed into the kitchen, door swinging closed behind her.
Oh well, Kyoko thought. She was familiar enough with the little shoppe to know her way around. She made her way to one glass counter, where she spotted a rather simple but sweet-looking strawberry shortcake. This one looks cute! Maybe I'll get this one. I'll get a whole cake and see if Tsuna-kun and everyone else would like to share. Kyoko, the kind heart that she had, was always thinking of others. After all, desserts were always sweeter when shared with friends.
Waiting for the girl who had rushed into the kitchen to come back and help her, Kyoko wandered around the bakery, looking at several other cakes that looked nice enough to share with her friends. Her head turned when the bell above the door chimed in welcome as another person entered the picturesque store.
Kyoko looked at her with curiosity but no contempt, being incapable of feeling such negative emotions towards anyone. The girl who had entered had violet hair in a pineapple-esque sort of hairstyle and one violet eye, her right covered by a black patch decorated with a skull. She wore a Kokuyo middle school uniform, bare midriff and a pleated skirt shorter than anything Kyoko had ever worn. On her arm, she had a bag which she clutched with both hands as if her life depended on the contents of the bag (and the truth was, it did). All in all, Kyoko thought she was cute, pretty in an odd sort of way.
When the petite violet-haired girl locked gazes with her, Kyoko turned her gaze back to the cakes in the display cases, blushing at having been caught looking. But, she couldn't ignore that there might have been another reason for her blush.
When the petite violet-haired girl locked gazes with her, Kyoko turned her gaze back to the cakes in the display cases, blushing at having been caught looking.
"Sasagawa Kyoko, am I correct?" She spoke with a quiet air that was somehow filled with knowing confidence.
Kyoko's head whipped back in surprise to stare at the girl at the mention of her name. "That's right. But, how do you know my name?" Her face turned a warmer shade of red.
Silently relaxing her hold on the bag just a tad, she said, "Boss said you go to school together."
"Boss?" Kyoko asked curiously.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi."
At the name, Kyoko's face brightened. "Ah, you know Tsuna-kun!" she exclaimed delightedly. "What's your name?"
"Chrome Dokuro," she replied. It was Chrome's turn to blush this time, when she saw the warm smile that spread across the Sasagawa girl's face. In all her miserable life, she hadn't met many who were as welcoming as this except for her precious savior Mukuro and her precious boss Tsunayoshi. Her own parents had never been this accepting, and even Ken and Chikusa still treated her with some distance.
Chrome looked at Kyoko with curiosity. This was the girl her boss spoke so fondly of. Kyoko was pretty, in a way that matched the cute little bakery but at the same time was modernly adorable, with short light brown hair that slightly flipped up at the ends and sparkling amber colored eyes. And, by the few sentences they had already exchanged, Chrome could already tell this girl was genuinely kind.
"Ah, Chrome-chan," Kyoko spoke with warm familiarity, "if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing here?"
Another blush made its way across Chrome's face at the '-chan' added to her name. Shyly, she ran her hands along the straps of her bag. The way Kyoko spoke to her, there was a little fluttering inside Chrome, something she hadn't felt since she had first met Rokudo Mukuro.
"Boss and the others said they felt like having something sweet," she said simply. It was true; Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto had been craving desserts, but they had been stuck babysitting Lambo and the other children. Chrome had just happened to pass by in her search for Ken and Chikusa and had willingly volunteered to run an errand for her boss.
"Is that so?" Kyoko cutely put her finger to her chin. "He must be busy watching over Lambo-kun and I-pin-chan," Kyoko guessed. She had been around her friends enough to know most of the things they might be up to.
Chrome - shy, introverted, quiet Chrome - had an uncharacteristic urge to talk to Kyoko, to keep their conversation going. She was drawn to the girl's warm personality, like the way a sunflower was drawn to the sun. Little did she know, Kyoko felt the same way.
"And, if you don't mind my asking, Kyoko-san, what are you doing here?" Chrome's hands nervously fidgeted a little on her bag.
"Oh!" Kyoko's face flushed, suddenly slightly embarrassed. ""It's only once a month that I come here and it's not like I eat desserts all the time!" Chrome only cocked her head to the side slightly, confused. "I'm sorry," Kyoko calmed down. "What I meant to say was that once a month, I have my own self-appreciation day, and I eat as many cakes as I can." Kyoko was still blushing, but the red on her face was gradually fading.
"I was thinking that maybe I could get a whole cake this time and bring it to Tsuna-kun's house and share with everybody," she explained.
The violet-haired girl simply 'ah'-ed in understanding.
Before anything else could be said, the scent of smoke and something burning became present in the sweet air. Kyoko and Chrome turned to the kitchen door as it opened, and the girl who had been behind the counter earlier appeared, coughing and shutting the door behind her quickly before smoke could escape.
"Ah, hello!" she said cheerily, as if nothing had happened. "Sorry about that. Hope you weren't waiting long!" The girl laughed in a lightly embarrassed fashion before coughing again. "Have you decided what you want?" Chrome noticed that the girl had glanced at her before quickly pretending she wasn't there.
It wasn't like Chrome's feelings were hurt, though. She' been through enough that something like that didn't affect her.
"I'll have the strawberry shortcake, please. One whole cake," Kyoko politely ordered with a smile on her face. While the girl went to place the cake in a box, Kyoko added, "Oh, and one slice of tiramisu." From the corner of her eye, she glanced at Chrome who was looking at the other sweets and pastries behind glass. She smiled and said, "On second thought, please make that two slices. Thank you."
As the girl busied herself with the cake boxes, Kyoko turned to Chrome. "Weren't you going to get something for Tsuna-kun and everyone else, too?"
Again, there was that fluttery feeling that almost felt foreign but sat comfortable with Chrome. In the back of her mind, she heard a smoothly seductive voice. "Aw, my cute little Chrome is blushing! Kufufu... Go ahead, my darling Chrome-chan, why don't you answer the girl?" And, as if waiting patiently, the voice quieted.
"N-no, it's alright," Chrome stuttered. There was that voice in her mind again, chuckling darkly but in a teasing sort of way. "The cake should suffice."
"Here you go!" Their attention was brought back to the girl at the counter, and Kyoko took the plastic bag with the cake boxes inside that was being held out to her.
"Thank you," Kyoko flashed that pretty smile of hers once again. The girl said she hoped they came back again, and Kyoko and Chrome both walked out of the bakery.
One outside, Chrome said, "Well, I'll be leaving now. Please apologize to boss for me for not fulfilling the errand." The violet-haired girl, fingers clutching at her bag, turned to walk off in the other direction, albeit very reluctantly.
"Wait, Chrome-chan!" Kyoko called out to her before she got very far. Chrome paused before turning to face Kyoko. "You should come over to Tsuna-kun's house with me," she suggested.
The shy, quiet Chrome returned, face flushed and voice stuttering. "Ah, no, I don't want to impose, and I still have to look for Ken and Chikusa-"
Before Chrome could continue her embarrassed rambling, Kyoko walked over to her and took her hand, tugging gently, already leading her out of the shopping district and towards the Sawada household.
"Let's go, Chrome-chan. As they say, the more the merrier!" Kyoko giggled happily, and if not for the cakes she was carrying, she probably would have started skipping.
"Ahh, Kyoko-san-"
Again, Chrome was interrupted. "Please call me Kyoko-chan!" Chrome couldn't see her face, but she could hear in her voice that Kyoko was smiling. Another thing she wasn't able to see was that light tint of pink that graced Kyoko's face.
This stranger, someone she'd only heard about from her boss, this person she'd just met who already made her feel fluttery, this person who wanted to be her friend. Kyoko's magnetic personality had drawn Chrome in, and she couldn't help but think it was wonderful she'd found somewhere to belong. It was different being accepted by another girl. That rather sultry voice in her mind chuckled at the feelings only he and Chrome were aware of.
"Alright... Kyoko-chan."
And, for the first time since she'd been rescued by Mukuro, for the first time in a long time, Chrome smiled, as Tsuna and his friend became visible ahead of them.