A/N: This is something I wrote a long time ago (timestamp was Jan '12 but I've moved files between computers several times so it could be older) that I figured I would post, since I realized I am an active reviewer in the KHR fandom but never officially published a story in the fandom itself before. Plus, there are never enough Kurokawa Hana fics.
WARNINGS- Minor Harry Potter crossover since HC always had me think most of the Mists are wizards and are simply mysterious because of the Statute. Wishy-washy female lead. Complicated Love Web. Mukuro. MUKURO (STOP TAKING OVER EVERYTHING!). Mild profanity, some sexuality, adult situations/troubles/problems, etc. Will probably be a standalone one-shot.
Cats Over Flowers
Chapter One: Catalyst
Hana stared at the other woman for a long moment, noting the fantasy-esque cloak paired up with sci-fi goggles and a gorilla-shaped shoulder pauldron on her right shoulder, before she turned around and left the one who introduced herself as Lal Mirch at the genkan to retrieve her ten years younger Kyoko.
The twenty-four year old made a small detour to pick-up the bag of underthings she had asked her mother to buy, not thinking it prudent to leave Kyoko alone when those shady guys in suits were around, along with a bag of snacks and candy for the kids, before heading to retrieve her best friend.
"Someone called Lal Mirch is here to pick you up," she remarked as she opened the door to her bedroom before remembering the odd appearance and adding, "Probably."
The teen Kyoko made to stand up, "Oh… then, I should go."
The dark-haired woman stopped the girl, walking up to Kyoko. "Wait a second, Kyoko. Take this with you; my mom bought them earlier," at the girl's questioning look she elaborated, "Did you bring a change of underwear?"
Kyoko flushed, which was answer enough, making a cute noise of embarrassed realization.
"I knew it! They're all a bunch of thickheaded boys. And here—snacks for the kids too," Hana remarked, not surprised at all.
"You did this all for me…"
Hana smiled down at the younger version of the strawberry-blonde. "You can come back here anytime; even if I've turned into a hundred-year old granny or a little baby. Since I'm your best friend and I'll always be there for you."
"Hana…" Kyoko managed to say before moving to hug the twenty-four year old, as events that had been happening to her finally took their toll, and tears were finally shed as the fourteen year old cried.
The curly-haired woman returned the embrace and comforted this Kyoko, keeping a gentle smile on her face throughout. It wasn't until after she saw her younger friend leave with the other woman and she closed the front door that the upturn of her lips finally slacked.
Having taken off the blazer of her skirt-suit awhile ago, getting more comfortable as she talked to younger Kyoko by rolling up the sleeves of her white blouse, Hana leaned back against the wall of the entrance-way, her head softly hitting the white plaster as she tilted her face upwards.
She was not stupid.
That she actually witnessed a form of time-travel by the presence of Kyoko and Tsuna from ten years ago made certain pieces fall into place—at least Kyoko told her at all, which she could not be bothered to say the same for Ryohei.
And it all came back to that.
The past made the present and the present made the future; Hana mused what she would have done if she had a chance to re-do the last decade of her life.
Hana occasionally had moments when she wondered, if she had done something different or been more assertive during certain events, would she be somewhere different right now—be with someone different?
For, she presently had a clearer perspective of an event that had shaped her to be how she was now. The first time she had been infatuated, she had boldly pursued the guy like she had many things once she came to a decision, only to be burned terribly. The complete disaster had been a major hit to the previously self-assured teen girl, leading Hana to start doubting her ability to read people and to downright swear off her aggressive approach to pretty much everything.
The old her, before the blow to her people-reading skills that she had previously been proud of, would have doubtlessly figured out the mystery of Sawada Tsunayoshi and the group of men by a few pinpointed questions. But now? Hana still wondered what exactly Tsuna did but didn't really care, content to maintain the status quo.
That was technically how she fell into a relationship with Sasagawa Ryohei. She had known him since they were little, having been friends with Kyoko since Elementary, and he was relatively transparent. More to the point, Ryohei had been the one to instigate the relationship and Hana had followed along. She stayed with him even though she knew all his traveling couldn't all be over boxing. The twenty-four year old stayed as Kyoko's steadfast friend even though the older version—her version of Kyoko—withheld information or lied horribly ever since she started dating Sawada Tsunayoshi.
If it hadn't been for that guy, Hana would have happily lived with her head buried under the sand, remaining voluntarily obtuse instead of noticing discrepancies and never acting on it.
And, as if he had heard her thinking of him, her mobile rang about an hour later.
Hana paused a moment at reading the name of the caller, considering he only called her in relation to work, but with the events of the day…
"Yes, Hibari-san?" Hana answered as she moved from her bed to sit at the low table of her room, having been spending most of her time staring listlessly at the ceiling.
"You're not hurt," the low baritone voice of her occasional patient stated-instead-of-asked whether she was fine or not in his own way.
She supposed it was a valid question, considering she called The Foundation, though him calling so long after the fact suggested Hibari was already aware of her state of health and there had been another reason he called.
"No, I'm fine," Hana replied.
"… You met the younger version of Sasagawa Kyoko."
There was a long pause after she answered in affirmative and Hana closed her eyes. He was waiting for her to ask the questions she had over the events of the past day—maybe the past ten years.
But Hana ignored the silent prompt. She had asked the Sasagawa siblings questions that had led to lies or evasive maneuvers of some sort but had never asked Hibari, the only other adult she had been close to within the circle of Sawada Tsunayoshi's acquaintances. And she would never ask since Hana knew Hibari Kyouya would tell her no lies.
To ask now would mean everything would change and, despite everything, it was too late. Maybe if he had been more forward but that wasn't in his personality and, while Hana thought things might have been different a few years ago, the twenty-four year old had truly came to love Ryohei the past two years.
She silently exhaled; the years really had changed her. Hana wasn't sure whether she liked this present her—and wondered what Hibari Kyouya saw when she was so different than she had been in her teens—but there was no reason to dwell and regret the past, considering it was the present and future that mattered now.
Hibari sighed. "I have a favor to ask, Hana. Go overseas in my place."
Hana bit her lip, his odd wording making it obvious that he was shipping her off to somewhere else. Somewhere safe, considering the men in suits and the fact that anything Hibari was involved in usually was violent, whether or not he was the instigator. "Where?" she just asked.
"France. I'll tell Sasagawa Ryohei about you being out of the country for the next few weeks."
Weeks.
Closing her eyes, her voice didn't reveal any of the worry she felt inside, "You guys better not have a bunch of injuries I'd need to treat when I come back."
Hibari grunted noncommittally. "Someone will pick you up and go with you. Bye."
"Bye."
Click.
She had been in France for over two weeks before she had been portkey-napped right from under Hibari's underling's (i.e., her bodyguard) nose. The medical student had been subsequently hog-tied and left in the dark of why she was in her current situation by her three kidnappers (two men and a woman) until now.
Hana stared at the handsome face of a man who purportedly had been floating in a human pickle jar for ten years (she was beginning to realize it all revolved around ten years ago, during second year of Junior High), and the reason she had been whisked away from her pain au chocolat and coffee only to be stuck eating junk food in a shack on a snow-capped mountain.
The twenty-four year old wasn't feeling particularly forgiving when the petite green-haired male with rather interesting headgear had explained the situation, having felt a throwback to the bitchy cat-fight days of High School after being insulted by a (jealous) redheaded French witch and not taking it lying down.
But. She had originally gotten into medicine because of how often Ryohei was injured and the worry it had caused her best friend—not to mention the solitary aspect of having a career as a doctor being rather enticing after being burned (the saying continuing as 'twice shy' though Hana knew better after younger Kyoko appeared). The sight of the man with the ostentatious nickname, 'Rokudou Mukuro', almost caused her physical pain as she saw the atrophied body.
Yet, considering there were very few ways for someone to end up in this state, she had to ask—not wanting to get in trouble by aiding an escaped convict (or 'liberated' might be a better word, considering this man couldn't move without aid).
"Were you in Nurmengard?"
A slow inhale. "No," the man then actually smirked, which said a lot of his personality when he did so while he was so disabled. "Are you going to heal me now, Miss Kurokawa, or continue to stare?"
Hana scrutinized his face, ignoring the pale pallor of skin that hadn't seen sun for ages and concentrating on the midnight-black hair, odd-colored eyes, and his bone structure. He had a long face—though he was slightly peaky—but it was more than possible he was British, especially with the accent to his English. "The other prison? The one in the United Kingdom."
"You won't get in trouble with authorities for healing me, Miss Kurokawa."
Her lips thinned and she looked around the area, the bed he was lain in partitioned from the rest of the cabin by heavy drapes, trying to ignore the frog-hat boy that was also with them to no doubt keep an eye on Hana herself. "I… don't have a wand and potions…"
"Fran," the patient simply stated.
"What do you need," the now-named Fran deadpanned as he sniffled—he was clearly showing signs of having caught a cold. Not that odd, considering their rather remote location; the cabin interior was heated comfortably but she'd probably die from exposure if outside within hours in clothes more suited to Mediterranean weather than high-altitude and below freezing temperatures.
Even though she was no longer tied up, she had little choice but to stay in the cabin either way.
Hana sat on the side of the bed though she technically wasn't supposed to, but having been stuck at her patient's bedside the entire time since he arrived in the cabin she wasn't left with much choice. It was odd, the sense of unease she felt now that they were alone, the others having left for a bit, when she should otherwise feel a little more relaxed, considering her company posed no danger at all to her in his condition.
Maybe it had to do with the fact these people were heading to Japan and might be involved with whatever had been happening in Namimori.
The twenty-four year old assessed the man before sighing.
"Ask your question," Mukuro said suddenly, startling Hana as his silky voice cut through the silence of the shack.
"… Why me?"
There was a pause before he started chuckling almost uproariously. "You don't know, do you? But, I suppose you have your own secrets to keep."
Hana looked away, having a feeling this had something to do with Sawada again.
After a few moments, his cultured voice filled the silence again. "Though, I wonder if you would still be with him, if you knew what your boyfriend really was."
Her heart sped up. She didn't want to know this and, unlike Hibari, Mukuro would not care for what she wanted judging by the fact he basically gave her no choice but to heal him up. Hana made to stand up and suffer in the snow when she had made her decision during that phone call with Hibari a few weeks ago.
The dark-haired woman felt a grip on her trailing arm and her stomach roiled uncomfortably as her equilibrium was thrown, her breath knocked out as her back hit the bed, dark-blue eyes wide as she stared into a dichromatic gaze while her arms were restrained over her head and her legs tangled with his.
Hana was unable to help the flush that rose to her cheeks despite the dangerous situation she found herself in, considering the twenty-five year old above her had been nude under the sheets. This was a completely different animal than the clinical scrutiny of before, when she actually felt him press against her.
"Come, mi bella fiore, no need to run away." He leaned down, his lips softly pressing against an ear (since she turned her face away) and moving as he continued, "I'll let you live in the comfort of your false little dream for a little longer, considering the care you had shown for Chrome a year ago."
She tried to bury her face deeper into the pillow, trying to sink further into the mattress to get some distance from the man, whose long hair formed a dark halo around them which was ironically fitting. His grip was stronger than she thought possible as he couldn't have lifted more than a pound with extreme effort when she first saw him; that he was barely recovered. Hana had been right to feel unease; he was dangerous. An angelic face but Dark and powerful, looking the archetype of a fallen angel—especially considering he was slightly emaciated, with the lack of fat and barely-added bulk from the healing, not quite as perfect but still entrancing.
Hana flinched when she felt him kiss down the side of her neck. "Kufufufu…" he chuckled over her reaction, "You'll stay here; I'll come back for you."
And then he moved off of her, sliding out of the sheets and standing, the woman quickly turning her head to stare at the wall one side of the bed was pushed against. She trembled a little as she heard the sounds of him putting on clothes, swallowing thickly and unable to stop the question from leaving her mouth, "Who are you really?"
The twenty-four year old stayed still, hoping that her words had been said softly enough he would have dismissed it as something incoherent. When she heard the soft thudding of footsteps heading closer, Hana turned and watched him tensely, sitting up quickly so she wasn't as disadvantaged.
He had pulled his long hair into a low ponytail, chin-length bangs framing his unnaturally handsome face. She didn't react when he cradled her face in one of his hands (unlike before) and he chuckled. "Aren't you precious," he remarked before he slid his hand to her hair and jerked her head back, leaving her at the perfect angle for her mouth to by ravished by his.
Before Hana could react, Mukuro straightened up and lightly rubbed her bottom lip with the thumb of his free hand, the woman belatedly realizing the kiss itself had barely lasted a few seconds but had been the most passionate touch she had felt in her twenty-plus years of life.
"I was born with the name Salazar Spade but that individual had died almost two decades ago."
Afterwards, the Italian man left Hana alone in the cabin, the woman stuck with her own thoughts for three days before the crack of apparation sounded and her captor grandly threw open the door of the shack.
"I'm back, dolcezza, kufufu…" he closed the door and shut out the cold of the mountaintop as he slowly took steps toward Hana, who had been curled up in a corner of the bed. "Now, I suddenly found myself in a bit of a dilemma on what to do first: should I steal another kiss, or tell you the truth and open your eyes?"
Her heart stopped as the magician brushed the heart of the matter, Hana having admitted to herself the past few days that she wished she could continue living a Lie. The Truth was always an ugly thing.
PRESENT:
The faint tremors suddenly started, the female of the pair in the meeting room ducking under the desk she had previously been sitting at and gripping the metal legs. When the second tremor came, enough to rattle bones, Hana's eyes widened as she was forcefully taken into a stream of visions—of memories.
Minutes later, when it seemed like the earthquake ended (aftershocks considering Namimori was pretty disaster-free, barring monsoons in June) for the moment, or at least couldn't be felt anymore, the silence was broken.
"Kurokawa-san?"
The second year Student Council member unfroze, reaching toward the seat she vacated to use as leverage shakily. Immediately, Hana was angry at the show of nerves, fisting her hand and mentally giving herself a vicious shake—and then a slap when that wasn't enough.
When Hana moved again, it was with her usual confident smoothness, standing up before turning to the pompadour-wearing Disciplinary Committee Vice President, eyes bored with a hint of irritation she couldn't hide.
"Let's just end this early and continue this tomorrow," she folded her arms in front of her, "I don't see why I have to do his paperwork when I'm on the cultural committee in the Council. You should have asked Taichou or the Fukutaichou instead."
Hana managed not to spazz over flickering images of intense looks and silences in her mind's eye at the thought of the grouchy Head Prefect, though she now had an explanation for Hibari Kyouya's disappearance that resulted in her being recruited to help. She also already knew why Sanada Gen'ichi and Mogami Terumi weren't asked, the fourteen year old herself being the highest up in the Student Council of the handful that aren't terrified of the Disciplinary Head.
"Ah, yes… I suppose," the large teen murmured distractedly, caught in his own new set of memories.
The long-haired girl spun around, picking up her leather briefcase before leaving the room without another word. She detoured toward the girl's lavatory instead of the shoe lockers, only then letting her posture drop and expression to enter her face.
What the hell…? Kyoko and a bunch of other classmates had been missing for a few weeks but… Was her best friend okay now or was Kyoko still gone? And, there was also that ever small bit of doubt of whether what just happened to her was because of a bad batch of take-away Kusakabe had brought to the paperwork marathon—disgusting Hamburg steaks from a family restaurant that Hana now realized were the Head Prefect's favorite pick on the menu.
Those memories revealed way too many details about the leader of the delinquents than Hana wanted to know. In fact, there was too much of Kyoko's older brother she never wanted to see; the fourteen year old throwing up a little in her mouth at the simple idea of getting together with that First-Class Idiot.
Needing something to do to make a U-turn from the direction her thoughts found themselves in, Hana turned on the faucet as she stared into the mirror with an irritated scowl, considering what a doormat this 'older her' was.
And, the most terrifying part was: the fourteen year old had been letting the seeds of it develop from what she could tell of the past few months, meaning Hana couldn't deny that it was entirely possible for her to have ended up that way. A fact she was disgusted with.
End Notes: …and that's all I wrote. The last snippet was originally the first section of present!Hana's story and the official start of the idea I had that I vaguely recalled ended up with a Hibari pairing? Honestly, the plotting was a little weird since I wanted to write a time-travel story and characters-turned-into-kittens story (hence the title) and had the bright idea to put it in a single fic. Now that I think about it, my OTP is 1887 but the end game dude was actually… (CENSORED)!
The scene with Kyoko has dialogue taken from the manga. Also, give me a heads up if you guys think I should up the Rating; I was never sure what level of sexuality would warrant an M-Rating on this site.
Went over it once but might have missed something; feel free to point out typos or the like. I don't mind.