This was written for fyeahkhrfanfic's Valentine's Day event on Tumblr. Just a warning to you guys, I'm not really good with romance, so this will probably not be as good as you expected... Sorry..

*A thank you to sydni for betaing this for me*

Placing the pen down, Mukuro rubbed his eyes, and gingerly massaged his wrist and fingers. What he hated more than doing paperwork, was doing two sets of paperwork. Spotting an error, Mukuro picked up his pen again and made a correction on Lambo's paper. He really didn't want to go over and fix Lambo's paper, but the kid did help him with a few errands (and maybe plant a few objects in various places where they may or may not purposely disturb and bother a few people).

Mukuro looked out of the slightly ajar office door when he heard the sound of the nearby door opening. Sawada shouldn't be back yet from his trip to an allied famiglia, and the others were all in the other wing of the mansion. When there was no other sound, Mukuro shrugged, and went back to the paperwork.

Hearing footsteps, Mukuro looked towards the door again, leaning back in his seat to see who was outside, but the person merely walked by his door, and continued down the hall. Not in the mood to expend unnecessary energy to see who the person actually was, Mukuro looked back towards the paperwork, imagining that it was burning in a fire.

Hearing the footsteps again, Mukuro didn't even bother looking up. Determined to finish before the day was over, Mukuro absorbed himself in the paperwork, and therefore didn't notice when the door to the office opened.

"Why are you doing two sets of the same paperwork?" Mukuro almost jumped. Outwardly, his pen stopped moving, but inside, he almost summoned up his trident. He was exhausted enough to almost impale someone. Maybe he should take a break and go eat something?

"I'm just fixing up Lambo's as well as my own, Cavallone." Taking a seat across from him, Dino Cavallone just frowned even more.

"You're fixing up Lambo's work?" he asked.

"I owe him a favor," Mukuro said shortly. Mukuro glanced towards the door. Was Cavallone the one walking around? "You know, Sawada isn't here, right?" Cavallone nodded.

"I know. I just went to drop off something for him." Mukuro blinked.

"The others are all downstairs." Mukuro knew for a fact that besides a nod of acknowledgement, the two of them never actually spoke to each other before.

"I know." Mukuro took a deep breath to calm himself. Today was not his day.

"Then why are you here?" Mukuro asked, keeping most of the annoyance out of his voice.

"We haven't really spoken to each other, right? I figured it was about time we talked," he said cheerfully. Mukuro stared at him owlishly.

"Okay…?" Not sure what else he should say, Mukuro went back to the paperwork.

"I saw Chrome Dokuro downstairs, but how about the others? Ken Joshima, Chikusa Kakimoto, and M.M?"

"They are away at the moment," Mukuro said, not even bothering to look up from the papers.

"To where?"

"That really isn't any of your business." Cavallone snorted. They fell into silence, and Mukuro was able to finish another page before he spoke again.

"Why are you here?" Mukuro stopped writing, and looked up at Cavallone.

"Excuse me?"

"You hate the mafia, don't you?" Cavallone said, the humor gone from his face. "Yet here you are, sitting right in the middle of the strongest mafia family in the world, doing paperwork."

"My feelings for the mafia in general have not changed, Cavallone," Mukuro stated.

"Dino." At Mukuro's confusion, he elaborated. "Call me Dino. Cavallone isn't even my last name you know."

"Fine then, Dino." Mukuro started to write again, ignoring the blonde.

"That means that you still want to destroy it, right?" Mukuro didn't say anything out loud, but yes, he did want to destroy it. Seeing a hand enter his line of vision, Mukuro glared as Dino pulled the paper towards him. "Well?" he prompted.

"I still do want to destroy it," Mukuro said, grabbing the paper back. Mukuro wrote down a few more words before placing the sheet into the complete pile, and grabbing another.

"Oh." Mukuro glanced up. Dino's face became blank, but not before Mukuro caught a glimpse of his expression.

"Why so disappointed?" Was Dino expecting a different answer? Mukuro couldn't think of anything that would suggest that he was happy with the mafia. Dino sighed.

"I thought that your opinion changed since you haven't done anything─"

"Done anything to suggest that I still wanted to destroy the mafia?" Mukuro finished. Dino nodded. "Just because I haven't done anything, doesn't mean my goal changed. I just decided to go about it in a different way." Dino raised an eyebrow.

"A different way?" Dino echoed. "How so?"

"Why should I tell you?" Mukuro asked, sitting back in his seat. Feeling rather parched, he took a sip of water. Dino watched him place the bottle down. "Well?"

"Just curious." Mukuro stared at him, mentally debating whether or not he should say anything to him. He glanced down at the paperwork that he still had to do and picked the lesser of two evils.

"To be honest, if I wanted to, I don't have to actually do anything," Mukuro said. With veiled amusement, he watched as Dino's expression went from calm to confusion to thoughtful, and back to confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked, still looking confused.

"I mean, if I wanted to, I could just sit back, and let everything go as intended," Mukuro elaborated.

"That still made no sense," Dino deadpanned. Mukuro laughed. Was this guy actually a mafia boss? And not just a mafia boss, but one that was allied to the Vongola?

"Do not know about the law?" Dino blinked before a look of realization passed his face.

"You mean the one Tsuna is working on?" Mukuro absentmindedly nodded. The fact that Sawada was even able to get a law considered in the first place was impressive enough, but somehow, he got the Vindice to think about the enforcement of the law which involved the consequences of breaking the humanitarian law of the territory's mafia famiglia (In this case, the Vongola have a good amount of territory under their name). Mukuro was aware that Sawada had even more radical ideas, but Sawada was smart enough to do everything slowly. Hearing a few of his ideas, Mukuro had decided that probably having Sawada do what he wanted would be the least bloody (and easiest) way for Mukuro to accomplish a fair number of his goals. "That means you are supporting what Tsuna is trying to do? His goals?"

"A good number of them," Mukuro said, glancing at his phone to check the time. He really should go and get something to eat soon.

"What happened to possessing Tsuna?"

"No need to," Mukuro said, organizing the papers. As soon as he got something to eat, he would get right back to work.

"What changed?" Mukuro paused in the process of fixing the papers. What did change? Mukuro very clearly remembered the time where all he wanted was to possess the body of the boss of the strongest mafia family. If he started with the strongest, it would be very easy to go down and take out the weak. But now, after having gone through a lot with the Vongola, and even interacting with everyone, Mukuro couldn't deny that he had a soft spot for them. Besides, where else would he get his entertainment of the day, if not from the guardians and the others? The idiocies that they get into are enough that they could get a reality show if they wished.

Mentally shaking his head, Mukuro placed the papers down, and looked towards Dino. To his surprise, Dino was smirking slightly.

"What?" Mukuro said, his eyebrows furrowed. Dino slowly shook his head, but the smirk stayed put. Mukuro's mind raced as he thought back. Did he say something that would cause Dino to smirk?

"You didn't say anything," Dino said, the smirk still on his face. "You just have interesting facial expressions." Mukuro cursed himself. That's it, he was relocating. Mukuro stood up, and grabbed the papers and his water bottle. "By the way, do you want to go on a date?" Mukuro almost tripped over the chair's leg.

"Excuse me?" Mukuro said, startled.

"A date," Dino repeated slowly.

"Why?" Mukuro asked. Was he drunk? Dino shrugged, but he was grinning.

"I figured, if we were going out, we might as well make it a date," he said cheerfully.

"Why would we be going out?" Mukuro said, edging towards the door.

"Because we need to talk more, and it's Valentine's Day." Mukuro frowned, and pulled out his phone. Sure enough, the date shown was February 14. Mukuro slowly put his phone away. He looked at Dino who was still sitting down and smiling a little. Mukuro's eyes then looked towards the door. Under normal circumstances, he might've had an actual comeback, but at the moment, Mukuro was sleep deprived and hungry. He wasn't in the mood to deal with whatever game Dino was playing.

"No." With that, Mukuro slipped out the door, and as fast as he could without running, he bolted down the hallway towards the stairs. Behind him, he heard the door opening and closing again. Going down the stairs in a rush, Mukuro almost ran into Sasagawa Ryohei. Without even thinking, Mukuro blurted out, "Hide me."

"Huh?"

"Now," Mukuro said harshly. He pushed past him, and slipped into an adjacent hallway. Halfway through, Mukuro paused.

"Yo, Ryohei, did you see which way Mukuro went?"

"Uh, no… Why are you looking for him?" Even from where Mukuro was standing, he could tell that Sasagawa wasn't convincing anyone. That man could not lie at all.

"I just wanted to speak to him. Isn't it good if we all get to know each other better?" Mukuro snorted lightly. That sounded pathetic. They was no way that anyone would ever fall for─

"Oh yeah. Good for you Dino! Mukuro went that way…" Before he even finished, Mukuro was already power walking away. He was definitely going to get Sasagawa back for this. In front of him, a door opened, and Yamamoto Takeshi walked out. While Mukuro wouldn't say that he was the most reliable person, compared to Sasagawa, he might as well be a lieutenant of an army.

"Cavallone is trying to find me. Can you not tell him where I went?" Mukuro impatiently tapped his foot as he waited for Yamamoto to register what he said.

"Why is he looking for you?'

"It doesn't matter. Just don't tell him where I went." Without even waiting for an answer, Mukuro opened the nearby door, and entered a nondescript office which luckily had another exit inside. This was one of the few moments where Mukuro was thankful that the Vongola mansion had a maze inspired layout.

Mukuro went through the door, and stopped to rest against the wall. He was starting to feel a little light headed, but he wasn't too far away from the kitchen. Maybe he could make a quick stop before─

"Mukuro!" Or not. Mukuro made a note to himself to get back at Yamamoto as well. "So about that date─" Mukuro shut the door, and made illusionary locks. They were obviously not permanent, but they would hold long enough for him to leave.

"Wow, you look terrible." Mukuro blearily looked up at Gokudera Hayato, who just exited a room. Mukuro glanced back to see if Dino was still following him. At the moment, he wasn't. Mukuro looked back at Gokudera. Would he…

"Would you be willing to help me get away from Cavallone?" Mukuro asked, throwing it out there. It couldn't hurt to try. Gokudera frowned.

"Why?"

"He keeps pestering me." Gokudera stared at him for a moment before he burst out laughing. Still laughing, he walked away. Making another mental note for Gokudera, Mukuro decided to forgo the trip to the kitchen and just head to his room for a nap. Even with a few hallways separating them, Mukuro could still hear Gokudera laughing.

Despite his intentions, Murphy's Law was still in effect, so of course, Mukuro had to also run into Hibari Kyoya. Hibari just raised an eyebrow at his appearance, but Mukuro really couldn't give damn right now. He just wanted a nap. Was that too much to ask for? Mukuro just side-stepped him, and continued on his way, before pausing mid-step. Unlike Gokudera, Hibari does have an actual reason to possibly confront Dino.

"I don't suppose you could distract Dino for the time being?" Hibari stopped and turned around.

"Why should I?"

"Are you going to or not?" Mukuro said, ignoring his last question. Hibari looked thoughtful. Mukuro stared at him in disbelief. Was he actually considering it?

"Fine, I will," he said. Mukuro perked up. Maybe all this time, he misjudged─ "if you get on your knees and beg for my help," Hibari finished. Mukuro longed to wipe that smirk off his face, and if it were another day, he would've.

"Fuck you," Mukuro said simply. He turned on his heel, and headed for his room. He now knew that all the guardians (except for Chrome) were essentially useless when it comes to anything other than fighting. Practically fantasizing about sleeping in his bed, Mukuro opened his door with a flourish only to start groaning. Dino was there.

"Look Cavallone─"

"Dino," Dino said automatically.

"Look, Dino, I'm both sleep deprived and hungry. I have neither the desire nor the energy to deal with you right now." Dino looked at him in concern. He opened his mouth, but Mukuro held up a hand to stop him. "If I agree to go with you for an outing, will you leave me alone for today? Just nod or shake your head," Mukuro added. Dino nodded. Mukuro sighed. Well that was that. "By the way, I refuse to pay for anything." If Mukuro was being forced to go with him, he might as well take advantage of the situation. Dino nodded again. "You can go now," Mukuro said, pointing towards his door.

"So, I'll pick you up tomorrow at 6?"

"Whatever." With a smirk, Dino left his room. As soon as the door shut behind him, Mukuro dumped the papers on his desk, and collapsed on the bed. Burying his face into the pillows, Mukuro let out a sigh of content. It quickly turned into a groan when he heard his door open. Lifting his head up, he immediately fell back into the pillows. It was only Chrome.

"Mukuro-sama, is everything alright? I heard some commotion earlier."

"Just forget about it," Mukuro said, his voice slightly muffled. "Do you think it would be possible to catch a plane and leave the country by tonight?" Chrome looked startled.

"Um, Boss said that everyone had to stay nearby for the next few days," she said. Mukuro sighed. "And Mukuro-sama, I thought you hated airplanes?" Mukuro sighed again. Was it too hard to make airplanes more spacious and not feel like he was a sardine in a can? When he didn't respond, Chrome took it as her cue to leave, but as the door was shutting behind her, Mukuro remembered something.

"Wait!" Mukuro said, sitting up suddenly. Chrome looked back at him. "What exactly does someone do on a date anyway?"