Earth and Sky: Daily Life
Notes: Okay, I'll admit it, I complained a LOT about the Shimon arc, namely for how slow, uninteresting and sloppily put together it was sometimes. However, after this ending chapter, I LOVE the dynamics of Vongola and Shimon being friends- yeah weird huh…
Anyway, that chapter also brought back the wacky feel that the first half of the manga had, before it got all serious business. So, I rather liked that then suddenly…plot bunnies every where. So yeah, this is just a collection drabbles centered around the Vongola/Shimon friendship. There will be some ship teasing here and there but nothing confirmed since this is mostly a crack humor/action adventure/friendship and family collection.
Anyway enough talk from me, onward!
Disclaimer: All legal rights to Katekyo Hitman Reborn belong to its creator Akira Amano, I'm just borrowing the characters.
Chapter 1
Title: Whistle
Characters: Chrome Dokuro, Julie, Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa
Notes: Chrome in italics means that Mukuro is in control over her body at that time.
"Hurry up already, Kappa." Ken groused impatiently, plastic bags of convenience store food weighing down his hands. When he got a stare from the other boy, Ken sucked his teeth and just walked through the entrance to wait outside.
Looking around, the blond haired boy wondered if this was enough food. Master Mukuro had been in that water prison for a long time, so he would probably have appreciated 'real' food more, but at least the stuff they bought tasted better than hospital crap.
As he leaned against the wall, Ken spotted capsule toy dispensers. Since he had nothing better to do with his time, the blonde walked up to the devices. Anime figures greeted his gaze, along with other generic cheap toys.
Then he spotted something interesting, a box of nothing but shiny whistles.
For some odd reason he thought back to the other day when 'Stupid' hesitantly told Ken and Chikusa why she had disappeared.
"Not like it matters…" Ken said gruffly. "We were wondering…" Chikusa added in his typical monotone.
The idiot girl stammered and squirmed, her cheeks turning red, "Um…there was…this guy. He…kidnapped me from the ceremony and locked me in a room. And then…asked if I needed help changing clothes."
Ken's throat clenched as the girl paused. Her left eye glanced up to the ceiling for the moment, as if trying to remember something only to give up on fully recalling the event.
"I don't remember much of anything after that…except later he tied me up and started…tried to get Mukuro-sama to come out by hurting me."
At that point, Ken had heard enough. He moodily rocked out of his chair, hands stuffed in his pocket while excusing himself to get a soda. No one commented when he didn't come back with a drink. Or that the next day the drink machine had a gorilla-sized fist punched in it.
Presently, Ken would deny he had been pissed because he actually gave a damn about the girl. She was precious to Master Mukuro, so yeah of course he was mad that she got hurt…perhaps more since she didn't remember a whole lot.
He was only angry on behalf of Master. Yeah…that's right.
As he pulled out a coin for one of the machines, Ken told himself this was on 'behalf' of Master Mukuro too.
"Hey…hey…"
Chrome muttered sleepily, rubbing her uncovered eye. "Stuuupid" someone above her drawled, until Chrome finally woke up and looked around. From her chair in the corner of the hospital room, she first glanced to the occupied bed. Mukuro-sama was sleeping peacefully.
A small smile appeared on Chrome's lips. She thought they'd never meet face to face, outside of that very brief encounter with the Mukuro of the Future Namimori.
Chrome's line of sight was suddenly blocked by a silver whistle on a rope hanging in front of her.
"…eh?" she uttered curiously.
Ken lost his patience with her, took the girl's wrist and put it into her hand. "Here, take it. Stupid machine didn't give me what I wanted and coughed that up instead."
Chrome blinked, but closed her hands around the rope whistle. Confused about the gift, the female Mist missed the devious little smirk forming on the lips of her male counterpart.
Three days later, Mukuro was released from hospital observation and the gang of four returned to Kokuyo Land. Upon noticing they were running low on food, Chrome drew the short straw to go into town and buy supplies.
"…you're letting her go alone, Master?" Chikusa inquired, perking Ken's curiosity so he glanced up from the video game and leaned above the sofa backing.
"Yeah, she has been kidnapped before."
The blue-haired teenager shrugged, "Ah, I'd go and accompany our dear little Chrome myself, but since the doctors told me to rest as much as possible…" he sighed, "Well no matter. I'm sure she'll be fine on her own. Lightning doesn't strike twice after all."
The lobby of the former health center grew strangely quiet. A minute passed then Ken stood up.
"Ken, where are you going?" Mukuro asked in a light and knowing tone.
"N-Nowhere Master just…down to the store, make sure the stupid girl actually gets food, not just chocolate."
"Hmm, good idea" Mukuro smiled. Not long after Ken left, Chikusa quietly stood up and followed, yo-yo jerking up and down as he walked.
Once he was alone a 'kufuu' escaped Mukuro before he rose up from the cot and formed a trident in his hands.
"Let's see how this plays out" he mused before vanishing particle by particle to quietly follow his subordinates.
Julie hated shopping. However, he was also aware that if he didn't do it, they'd all starve to death. What with Shitt P. being… herself and all, she probably thought grocery stores were Mother ships from another planet, out to destroy the world with consumerism. Kyou would probably buy all granola bars and sports drinks. Enma would get mugged before he even set foot in the store…so on and so on.
Thus, when Adelheid shoved the list in his face, Julie grumbled and complained each step outside the door but went anyway.
'Who knows I might meet some cute girls to chat up' he thought, whistling to himself while wandering the aisles.
Ignoring the list entirely, Julie picked up this box or that carton, shrugged then meandered on, taking his time. Turning a corner, Julie suddenly stopped dead when his gaze landed on a vaguely familiar face.
Purple colored hair formed like the leaves of a pineapple, slender body with a green crop-top uniform and short skirt, right down to the skull eye patch.
Julie remembered this girl. The last time he tried to talk to her…well more like apologize for what his body did while he wasn't in control; she cowered behind another Vongola Guardian.
'It wasn't really 'me' that did those things to you.' Julie thought. And he wasn't about to be cowed by a girl giving him the cold shoulder, so he walked down the aisle to pick up some items.
Chrome examined a box before putting it into the shopping basket on her arm. She then heard someone from the right clear their throat.
"Pardon me, need to get something."
Chrome backed away graciously, only to turn and look at the person and drop her basket in shock.
'It…it's him…' Chrome thought, unconsciously her hand reached for the rope whistle hanging from her neck- Ken checked for it everyday and forced her to put it on if the whistle wasn't there.
"Whoa hey…don't be so jumpy" the goateed teenager said.
"I'm sorry for startling you, but I'm just here to shop." he said while Chrome stood stunned in fear. At the same time, the girl told herself it was stupid to be afraid.
'He's not possessed anymore. You of all people should know what it feels like.' Chrome thought. She was aware that even Yamamoto-san had forgiven the man who nearly crippled him for life. Yet, couldn't help but feel nervous around Julie either.
"It…it's okay" Chrome mumbled as she bent down to quickly scoop up her basket then hurriedly walked away.
Meanwhile, outside the building...
"Did you see that?" Ken growled. Chikusa adjusted his glasses so they rested on the bridge of his nose, "No."
"He scared her! Look how fast she's walking away."
"She's fine Ken. We're just here to make sure someone doesn't take off with her again." Chikusa said, sounding bored.
"Whatever…the minute she blows that whistle we go in and pound the pervert."
Chikusa shrugged, but had already agreed to the terms otherwise the boy would have stayed with Mukuro.
"Well uh…" Julie began. 'Just my luck, all the other cashiers are on break' the Shimon member mentally grumbled.
"…you can go ahead."
"No, no. Ladies first. After you"
"…I insist. You go first." Chrome replied. She wasn't afraid of him, more like cautious. However, Chrome Dokuro did not want her back turned on Julie Katou either.
A long pause followed.
"…awkward" the cashier said before clearing her throat, "Look could one of you decide so we can get this over with?"
Chrome scurried into the line, Julie following behind her.
As the cashier started ringing up the purchases, Chrome felt a tingle go down her spine.
'Mukuro-sama?' she asked. A soft chuckle greeted her, 'Just borrowing your body for a few minutes Chrome.'
The question of what he wanted to do with it came to mind, but Chrome easily submitted to the pressure Mukuro's consciousness pressed on hers.
After Chrome slipped to the back, Mukuro took over to keep up the momentum going.
"You know…" Julie looked up at the sound of the girl's voice.
"I think I've misjudged you before." She turned around and smiled, "And you're not half-bad looking…"
Julie blinked then rubbed the back of his hair. Rarely did a girl compliment him, usually he was the pursuer of any flirtation.
'Guess I pegged her all wrong. This might be something good.' Julie thought. Hey, cute girl. Adel was nowhere to be found to scold and beat the crap out of him. This could actually work…or so Julie thought.
"I'm glad we understand each other a little better…" he began, moving to loop an arm around the small girl. She was quicker though, blocking Julie's arm with the empty shopping basket.
"Not so fast. Before this goes any further I want you to meet my brothers, so they can approve."
"Uh…" Julie began, getting the inkling that this was a trap.
'B-but…she's so…doe-eyed, tiny, soft spoken and cute. Moe! Moe, I tell you!' Julie coached himself, not about to chicken out just because of nerves.
"Meet me outside and I'll introduce them to you. Don't be late" Chrome said with a flirty wink his way.
"Yeah…I'll be right there" Julie replied with a dopey grin as Chrome took her bags. She paused as the door to give him a little finger wave which he returned.
The cashier cleared her throat, "Sir…sometime today might be nice."
"She's coming out, hide!" Ken hissed, grabbing Chikusa by his uniform shirt and jerking the taller boy into the alley with him.
Chrome stepped out onto the side walk, followed closely by Julie, who blatantly ignored the cashier calling out to give him back some change.
"So…where are your brothers?" Julie asked. He felt a little nervous about Chrome-chan suddenly wanting to introduce him to family, but figured he could bullshit his way through the 'be good to her or we'll crack your nuts' vibe big brothers usually gave off.
"Oh they're around…somewhere. Here, hold this for a minute please" Chrome said, passing her grocery bag into Julie's already loaded down arms.
After he graciously accepted the burden, Chrome smirked before pulling on the rope whistle, brought it to her lips and blew.
Ken jerked. That was the signal. A glance to Chikusa, who had already armed his yo-yos with spikes, so in return Ken popped in his Lion Channel set of teeth.
"Time to catch a pervert" Ken announced as both boys emerged and stalked up to the man they had already labeled pervert.
"Oh there they are. I'll leave you three to talk for a little while, but I need to head on home. My boyfriend is waiting on me."
"Aw, but I hoped we could…wait…boyfriend?" Julie asked just as Chrometook her grocery bag back and someone tapped on his shoulder.
"What?" he snapped, only to get a fist to the face.
Chrome 'kufuu'ed all the way home, letting the eye patch down long enough so she could see with mis-matched eyes while trekking back to the abandoned amusement park. "I've still got it" Mukuro mused to himself, pleased to have caused some mischief.
A moment later, Chrome opened her left eye slowly, feeling slightly out of sorts. Then again, having another person possess your body for a time always felt like that.
"Wake up Chrome, did you have a good rest?" Mukuro-sama's voice filtered through her ears. The girl raised her head, looked down at the bag of groceries at her feet then to Mukuro-sama.
"Where are Ken and Chikusa?" she questioned quietly.
"Ah, they had some business to attend to. No worries though, I'm feeling a little less like death warmed over, so I can help you put these things away."
"Ah…thank you…Mukuro-sama" Chrome muttered, a slight blush along her cheeks. It felt really good to have him out of prison to where they could talk and see one another.
But…Chrome couldn't help but feel like she had missed out on something important.
Notes: Slightly OOC in some places, but this is for humor purposes so I suppose I can get away with from time to time. Also, I'm not hating on Julie, he's one of my favorite of the Shimon family actually, but you've got to admit the guy is easy to parody.