My first series. Serialization of my earlier one-shot, "Meeting". If you couldn't of guessed from the summary, there will probably be slight character OOCness. This is intentional, and is either explained in the story, is due to age (the fic takes place approx. 8-9.5YL), or is light and for comic relief. Read on, and please review.

Enjoy

DING DONG

The doorbell rang. The noise reverberated through a small house, lightly furnished, with only the basic things someone needed to live. A couch here. A small T.V. across the room there. Everything was neat and orderly, as if it was kept in very good condition...or never used.

DING DONG

The exception being the 'master' bedroom, which was actually about the size of two smaller walk in closets. It seemed as if all the personal items that should have been spread out among the house had been crammed into this one small space. Small pieces of furniture were decorated with pictures of boys fighting and old destroyed buildings. Old pieces of junk and piles of clothes surrounded said pictures and furniture, which seemed to be all surrounding a mattress in the center of the room, covered in dark blue sheets.

DING DONG DING DONG

A small purple wave that almost perfectly blended with the sheets in the dimly lit room moved. It swayed slightly, as the wrinkles in the sheets seemed to invert in a motion that could only be explained as someone rolling over.

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG

The purple wave seemed to be sucked downward slowly as the covers moved up and a soft groaning came from the sheets.

DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG DING DONG DING DO-

"STUPID WOMAN!" shouted Joushima Ken as he kicked down the old door. "IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GO TO SCHOOL!"

Back in the master bedroom, more groaning ensued as the purple wave abruptly shot up and the blue sheets flew back, revealing a very tired, very out of it, very beautiful college senior by the name of Chrome Dokuro.

Chrome stretched and yawned, rubbing her closed eye with her left hand as her right searched through the nearest pile of clothes. Moving her hand down and half opening her eye, she looked at the pile she was searching through. Then she shrugged, taking her hands out of the pile and hugging her midsection.

Now in the living room, Ken looked around. "STUPID WOMAN! Where are you!" He looked across the living room and saw a hallway. Quietly growling, he marched toward the hall as he straightened the tie he wore on his suit. Still yelling, he asked "Are you not even UP yet?"

Ken came stomping down the hall, turning into the bedroom to find Chrome on her mattress, hugging her midsection with her legs crossed, laying down and staring up at him. She was wearing nothing from the waist down except a pair of black lace panties. From the waist up, she wore a small, light pink, sleeveless tanktop, that extended down till just below her diaphragm, leaving her mid section completely exposed to the world. She stared right into Ken's eyes, her hair surrounding her face and neck as her glistening amnethyst eye bored into his. She brought herself onto her elbows, and softly, seductively whispered, in her bell like voice. "Ken..."

Ken only responded by gaping. He'd gotten over his crush on Chrome a long time ago, but man was she hot.

Chrome raised one of her arms, elbow still on the mattress. She pointed a finger at Ken, then turned her palm upwards and slowly bent her finger towards her.

Ken's eyeballs popped out of his head. No way...she doesn't want to...?

Chrome softly moaned, keeping her lips sealed as her eye slowly closed.

She does...YES!

Ken suddenly stood up straight. "CHR-" he began to shout as he tried to lunge forward, only to be hit in the head by a yo-yo.

Kakimoto Chikusa, in matching suit,sighed as he walked over to his partner on the floor. "You know she's playing with you, right?" Ken looked up and glared at him. "Shut up Kakipi." Chikusa just pushed his glasses up, straightening the cloth hat he wore on his head. No one really knew why he always wore one, but people had guessed that it had something to do with whatever 'enhancement' he had been put through while he was a test subject.

"Now, Chrome, we really need to get you to sch..." Chikusa trailed off as he looked inside Chrome's room to see her facing away from them, her tanktop on the mattress by her feet. She was grabbing a pair of jeans and slowly putting them on.

Chikusa raised an eyebrow. Ken froze from trying to get off the ground. They both watched as Chrome slowly pulled the jeans up and around her legs. She looked over her shoulder again and made eye contact with the two men. She slowly turned around...her hands clear of her chest, at her sides...both boy's eyes widened...

And suddenly Chrome exploded outward, a maniacal "BOOOOOOO" tearing towards them. They both jumped and screamed. When the explosion turned to mist flames and went backwards to reform around Chrome, whose hair was up in its pineapple shape and was wearing a bra to match her panties, she simply smiled at her two bodyguards.

She looked around her room, sighing. Chrome pulled a white long sleeve shirt over her head, a picture of a cute bunny face across her chest with the word "Chappy" written in purple italics underneath it. Then she desperately lunged for a jacket hanging on the back of her door. When she wore it, the sleeves went to just behind her elbows, and if she zipped it up it only covered the top half of her upper body. But as she got ready to put it on, she smiled at the skull on its back that matched the one on her eye patch.

She looked at the two boys standing in her doorway, glaring at her. She flipped up her collar, smiling sweetly. "Shall we go?"

Chikusa drove her to her college campus, Ken in the passenger seat complaining the whole way, Chrome in the back marveling at the town they were driving through.

"Goddddddd." whined Ken. "Why the hell did Vongola ever decide it would be a good idea to go to college here?"

"Can't be helped." sighed Chikusa. "From what Mukuro-sama told me, Gokudera Hayato insisted that the Guardians all attend the same school, and this was the only place all six of them could agree on."

Chrome looked out the windows as Chikusa continued explaining to Ken, who had a look of disgust on his face he always gained when they talked about the Vongola Family for long periods of time. She looked at all the houses they drove by...the high school...the market...she loved this town. It wasn't Namimori, but the feel was the same.

"Hey, stupid woman. What's with the shirt?" Asked Ken, bored of Chikusa's logic.

Chrome looked away from the window and at Ken. He wasn't exceptionally tall and definitely not nice, but he had helped her when she needed it. Both he and Chikusa had welcomed her into their group with open arms...eventually.

"A friend of mine asked me to wear it. We were going to meet up later and talk. It's been about half a year since we'd last seen each other, so she wanted me to wear it so she knew who I was."

Chikusa lightly snorted. "Because we couldn't guess who you were from your fashion or your hair." Chrome just shrugged.

They pulled up to the college, and Chrome quickly got out of the car, pulling her bag with her. "Thanks." she quickly said to Ken and Chikusa, who just responded with silence and a snort. They drove off as she ran into the building.

Running down the hallways, she slid around a corner and abruptly stopped. Straightening her clothes and catching her breath, she looked around. The university wasn't grand or big or important, much like the town it resided in, but it felt comfortable, the walls in the hallways a light purple, the floors decorated with interesting, mesmerizing patterns.

Having caught her breath, Chrome slid the door open and walked into her class. The room was like most college classrooms, rows and rows of long desks stacked in a way to make them look like a set of bleachers, seats all facing the front of the room which had a small desk and a giant blackboard.

She seemed to have been one of the last people to arrive, but she really didn't mind. She wasn't a morning person in any form of the word, so this usually happened. People had grown accustomed to the cute purple haired girl with the eye patch showing up sometimes seconds before the professor had begun lecturing.

In fact, many boys found it quite easy to approach her before class instead of after, because she showed up at almost the same exact time every day. It was how she had been asked out on first dates by many of her boyfriends.

Ex-boyfriends Chrome thought unhappily as she climbed the stairs to her seat.

Chrome slid into her seat as the professor came out of his office, banging his cane on his desk as he politely asked everyone to quiet down.

Her professor wore very interesting clothing. He had a green cloak surrounding a white kimono, and instead of wearing normal shoes he wore clogs. He taught Japanese history, and while Chrome hated the subject, she loved it's teacher, so she was excited for each class.

"Alright class!" he said, smiling. "Graduation is going to be coming up soon, so unfortunately we're going to have to start reviewing key topics for your final." A chorus of groans was heard around the room. "I know, I know. I talked to the principal about it. And he said that no, I may not just pass you all. Who'd a thought? So, I'm going to do the next best thing and actually help you review! Aren't I so nice?"

As he launched into a lengthy lecture on the battle of Sekigahara, commenting on some of Tokugawa's odd quirks as if he knew the man,a sharp knocking was heard from the doorway. The professor stopped midway, his mouth wide open. He pulled out a fan from nowhere and used it to cover everything on his face below his eyes, which stared at the visitor questioningly.

Chrome's eye widened as she looked at a tall italian standing in the doorway. He easily stood at just under seven feet, wearing a classic business suit, a fedora sitting on his head with a crimson red piece of cloth wrapping around just above the brim of the hat. He stared at the professor with cold eyes, his chin length gray hair not obscuring his emerald eyes at all. The whole class froze at the sight of him, the girls swooning, the boys either staring respectfully or glaring jealously.

The word "Mafia" was snickered quietly quite a few times as the new arrival crossed the room, shoulder lightly brushing against the wall behind the professor as he walked to the office, shutting the door behind him.

The professor looked on at his confused class. "Looks like I'm behind on my protection money again. Don't mind him, I'm sure he's simply here to break my legs after class. Now, continuing on..."

Snickers were muffled at their professors sick humor as Chrome stared at the office knowingly.

After class ended, Chrome went down to the professor's office, quickly opening up the door then shutting it, locking the deadbolt behind her.

Chrome looked around the office. It was slightly bigger then the average professor escape, but then again it needed to be. All the walls were lined with bookshelves crammed full of papers, books, binders, and all forms of mysterious artifacts. His desk was almost as bad, with only a small portion in front of him cleared off so he could set things down in front of him. The only reason no one complained about it was because of a small picture of him and a tall black woman with golden eyes in the corner. It made the whole mess look cute and homey.

"Oh ho, Chrome-chan, so the rumors about your little adventures with some of the elder males around here actually have some basis?" her professor asked playfully. She rolled her eye before turning around. "Of course not." she replied. "People just love talking. Apparently, I'm mysterious."

She sat down across from the professor at his cluttered desk as he reclined in his big chair. She heard a snort from her left. "Apparently." whispered a familiar sarcastic voice.

Chrome turned her head and smiled at her longtime friend and co-worker. "Hayato-sempai. It's a pleasure to see you again. How have you been?"

The Vongola Storm Guardian nodded at his Mist friend. When Mukuro had finally gotten freed form prison, the family grew impatient and demanded the mist gear be given to Mukuro, along with the title of 'Guardian.' Gokudera had been one of the most vocal against the idea, surprisingly. Ever since, Chrome had felt a bit closer to the right arm of the Vongola.

They'd developed a sort of teacher-pupil relationship after she had asked for different training programs to help with her combat skills in general. It still weirded out many people when they saw her refer to him in such a polite manner, considering his personality.

Gokudera slightly smiled at Chrome, who he'd gotten as much of a soft spot for as he could. "Everything going well over here?"

She nodded. "No more stalkers. You and Boss dealt with them quite nicely, and Ken and Chikusa have stepped up security ever since. Thank you for that, again."

He snorted. "You could of easily dealt with them yourself. But the Tenth wanted to deal with them personally. It's been a while since I saw him that angry."

Chrome thought back to that occurrence. Opening her door to find her boss standing there with a thug against the wall, three more on the ground, out cold, beneath his feet. His suit was stained red because of how hard he was hitting them. His eyes were violent in a way she hadn't seen in years either. Why had he gotten so angry because of a few run of the mill stalkers?

She cleared herself of those questions. Don't get your hopes up, Chrome. "So, since you're wearing standard Guardian armor and fedora, I assume you're here on business?"

He nodded, eyes losing the bit of warmth they had. "You know about the Alliance meetings, right Chrome?"

She nodded. Once every four months, all the bosses of the alliance got together to discuss matters. They were allowed to bring one bodyguard, but Vongola could bring along a representative from the CEDEF agency and Varia as well, mostly because Tsuna had almost no influence over their actions and someone always had a problem with one or both organizations.

"Is there one coming up?" she asked. Gokudera nodded.

"Yup. Next week."

Chrome waited for the actual reason Gokudera was here.

He siged. "...and the Tenth has requested that if you could, you be his guard for the meeting."

Her eye widened. To be chosen as a guard for their boss at a meeting was the highest honor a mafioso could get, and it was usually awarded to the best warrior of any family. However, since Hibari really didn't like meetings, Gokudera usually went along. It made no sense for Tsuna to suddenly want to switch Guardians, especially since the absence of the raging storm would definitely bother quite a few families.

"W-why?" she asked.

Gokudera shrugged. "Ask him yourself. If you want to do it, he'll be by your house later tonight to pick you up. Do you want to do it?"

Chrome thought about it. A trip with Boss...

"Yes." she said softly, slightly blushing.

Gokudera nodded, noticing Chrome's shyness. He had always wondered if something had ever happened between his boss and the mist guardian, but he never asked. "I'll call him then and tell him to get you."

Her professor piped up for the first time since the discussion had started. "Well, Dokuro-san, you should probably be heading off to your next class. I expect that you're probably a bit nervous, but knowing the kind of person Tsunayoshi-san is, I think it'd be best if you just talk to him when you see him. That should help things."

Chrome nodded standing. "Thank you, Hayato-sempai, Professor." She turned and left. As she closed the door, she heard the two of them begin another discussion. Ever since they had met, they had been very impressed with the other's intellect, and had a habit of talking for long periods of time over the oddest higher level subjects.

"So, Kisuke-san," began Gokudera, "Tell me about this theory you have on the relationship between wave energy and this reiatsu..."

Chrome looked out the window as her uneventful school day came to a close. She ran to a far corner of the school, exiting the building and laying her eye on who she was looking for. A small, black haired woman turned and waved, calling out. "Chrome-chan!"

Chrome walked over, smiling. "The shirt looks good on you!" her friend commented. "Thank you." Chrome quietly replied. She had to bend her neck a bit to look her friend in the eyes, but she didn't really care.

"So...what do you want to do?" Chrome asked.

The other girl shrugged. "Lets go get something to eat." Chrome nodded.

As they walked toward a café that they had frequented when they were dorm mates, they talked about almost everything. Their lives, their jobs, their families.

They talked about possible men.

"WHAT! you STILL haven't hooked up with Tsuna?"

"No..."

"Why not? You've crushed on him for all of your college stay. You were interested at the end of high school. And he certainly isn't the type to say no to at least a date!"

"But...but...what happens if he isn't interested? I heard he likes Kyoko."

"Psh. You could easily charm him from her." At this she stopped. "I've seen you do it."

Chrome gasped. "Only if I'm really wasted...and this is different, these are friends."

Her friend just shook her head. "Go for him. Give it a chance, or he will slip through your fingers."

Chrome slightly pursed her lips. "We're here."

The café was the most popular in town, probably because it was in walking distance of the university. Take really any café, and you could mistake it for this one. It was coffee brown, a blue canopy over the entrance and patio. Chrome walked over slowly to the patio, smiling in apology as her friend made a beeline for an open table, cutting off some people as they were trying to stand up.

They sat down, ordered some coffee, and continued their talk. "You could have any guy you wanted you know." Chrome nodded at the words she'd heard a thousand times.

"Tsuna would fall on his face with a flick of your hair."

Chrome nodded again.

"Then why don't you?"

"..."

"Chrome?"

"...It's embarrassing."

"WHAT!"

"It's different than the other guys...Boss is nice...and cool...and collected..."

"How does any of that stop you from using your charm?"

"He turns it back on me...and he's really cute."

Her friend just shook her head.

Just as Chrome was about to take another sip of coffee, a cellphone ringtone began to sound. Her friend looked down and quietly swore. She flipped open her phone and looked at her messages. She looked up at Chrome apologetically. "It's okay." Chrome said.

"Sorry." her friend said.

"Can we do it again sometime?" was all Chrome asked.

Her friend nodded. "Definitely. I've missed your...calmness. It's a break from the carrot top. And honestly, you're the only quiet person I'm close to besides my brother."

"Quiet...yes. Sane? I'm sure they top me there."

Her friend sighed. " The Vongola are insane, but the quietness is nice when I'm around people who make sense...and wont stop talking about it."

Chrome nodded. "That's why it's so much fun when we all get together."

Her friend momentarily widened her eyes as she stood up, pushing in her chair. "Fun. Right."

She smiled at Chrome. "Bye Chrome."

Chrome smiled back. "Bye...Rukia-chan."

Chrome paced in her living room. She turned and faced a full length mirror, her eyes drifting over her dress. It was black, stretching down to halfway down her thighs. She tugged at the hem, and looked down, her eye closing as she readjusted her dark red purse on her shoulder. "I look like a whore." she softly whispered.

"I think you look quite good, actually." responded a voice behind her.

She yelped and spun around, her trident materializing to swing at the intruder's head.

She heard a yelp as she watched her boss dodge, falling onto her couch.

"Boss?" she asked quietly.

"AHH! BOSS! I'm so sorry-"

"Ah...its okay Chrome...ow." responded Sawada Tsunayoshi, slowly standing up to his full height. He wore a black dress shirt with a white vest over it, an orange tie finishing off the look. As he stood, he brushed off the white dress pants he wore. His gloves had changed form over the years, and now instead of being mittens, were white cloth gloves that form fitted to his hands, with the Vongola symbol on the glove, a 27 instead of a bullet in the center.

Chrome's eye widened. "What?" he asked. "Is there something on my face?"

Chrome shook her head. "No...Boss?"

"Yeah?"

"You're really tall."

Tsuna looked down at her, a good head higher. He shrugged. "My Italian heritage finally kicked in it seems. You should see Hayato, he's at least a foot higher than me."

She nodded. "He talked to me this morning."

Tsuna momentarily stopped. "Ah...yeah. I guess I did send him to tell you. Whoops." He faked a small laugh, scratching the back of his head.

Chrome was about to ask her boss why he was so uncomfortable when she remembered what he had said first. She blushed. "You really think I look good?"

Tsuna nodded. "Yeah! I asked you to wear what you wanted. This is what you wanted...and it's not a bad choice." he finished, looking her up and down with a raised eyebrow and a light blush.

Chrome smiled. "We ready to go Boss?"

Tsuna ignored her, lost in his own thoughts as his eyes continued their slow trek up and down.

"Boss."

No response.

"...Tsuna-kun."

Tsuna looked up. "Yea- wait, what did you just call me?"

Chrome shook her head and quickly darted for the door.

Tsuna was driving Chrome's small black car, going a tad above the speed limit, with it's owner in the passenger seat. A ringtone rang throughout the car... once... twice... thrice... the ringing stopped.

Chrome looked over at Tsuna. "Boss...why didn't you get that? It was probably someone important."

Tsuna shook his head. "I'm driving."

Chrome looked out the windshield, jaw ever so slightly clenching. "If I were driving you could talk to all the people you needed to."

Tsuna sighed. "Chrome, we've talked about this. I'm not letting someone with only one eye -and therefore no depth perception- drive."

"I could always use an illusion Boss."

"You can't see out of a fake eye, no matter how much you want it to be real."

"I'm sure Spanner could build me an eye."

"The chance of malfunction is too high."

"This is Spanner. His stuff almost never-"

"Almost!" snapped Tsuna, his hands tightening on the wheel. "Almost means its probably going to happen at least once, especially with a prototype. And one time is all that it takes. One drunk. One mistake. One bullet. And everything..." He didn't finish.

Chrome turned to actually look at the person she was talking to, her face softening. "Boss...what happened to Papan and Maman..." He just shook his head. His grip on the wheel didn't loosen. His eyes glistened in the setting sun.

Neither of them could say a single word till they arrived at the airport.

The airport was quite large, with dozens of flights leaving and coming in half a day. Chrome looked up at the building, slightly excited. She didn't fly often, but she enjoyed it. The idea that one could go anywhere from any other point made her smile every time she thought about it. Tsuna pulled into a spot in the parking lot directly in front of the airport, somehow finding an unoccupied space. The rest of the lot was filled.

Tsuna stood, slowly closing the door on the parked car. His eyes still looked sad as he looked over the hood of the car to Chrome, who had just shut her door. They held eye contact for about ten seconds.

He shook his head slightly and began to walk to the airport when it started to rain. Neither of them had brought an umbrella, but that was okay, they only had to cross a parking lot.

Tsuna began to slow as they passed through a row of cars. He was deep in thought about what had happened to his parents. His mother, killed in a drunk driving accident the day he graduated high school. His father, shot to death when a hitman mistook him for his target and panicked. They had done so much for the Guardians, so much for everyone. Yet they died just as easily as anyone else would.

Chrome noticed her boss was still upset over their conversation earlier. After the death of his father, Tsuna had watched everyone he knew like a hawk, sometimes not sleeping for days at a time in order to make sure that everyone was safe and in no danger. He didn't want to lose anyone else. No one had the heart to tell him that accidents happen, that someone was going to make a mistake, slip up, and it wouldn't be his fault.

"So...Boss." she asked, trying to get him to talk again. "What's our schedule?"

Tsuna looked up at her, his head momentarily blanking as he processed what Chrome had asked. "We get on our flight here, fly to Italy, get in our hotel, spend the weekend relaxing, then the following five days are the meeting. The weekend will be spent with social events."

Chrome nodded. "Is anyone coming with us?"

"Basil and Squalo." was Tsuna's quick reply.

"Ah." Chrome said, trying to keep the conversation going. She felt guilty for getting Tsuna worked up. She tried to think of all the ways she could get him to cheer up. She mentally sighed, realizing she had always been best with the direct approach.

Chrome stood in front of him, blocking his path as they were about to walk though the last line of cars. "Boss." she said pointedly. "What happened to your parents wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for pushing the driving issue. No one is going to die on you while you're away. So please...smile?" she softened with her last sentence.

Tsuna looked at Chrome as the rain ran down their faces. "Chrome..." he muttered, his voice full of pain. He sounded so cold, so sad, so alone. Chrome wanted to do something so badly to help him.

She reached out with her hand and lightly grabbed his wrist. She lifted it up and pulled as she walked towards him, helping him wrap his arm around her as she hugged him.

He was surprised at both her action and his strong desire to hold her. He'd never really done this before. Reborn had set him up on blind dates in the past, but the woman he talked to were never interested in Sawada Tsunayoshi. They wanted to kiss up to Vongola Decimo. Never had a girl comforted him the way Chrome was now.

He held her tightly as his remorse left his eyes, mixing with the rain as it dripped off his face.

Their eyes closed, enjoying the moment. They didn't care that it was cold out, or that they could feel their bodies begin to react to the wet rain. They didn't want to leave this place just yet. They were engrossed in the warmth that the other provided. The warmth that they never knew they had.

They were probably a little too engrossed.

"VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIII! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING SAWADA!"

Chrome and Tsuna jumped about ten feet, both up and away from each other. They quickly looked toward the airport to see Squalo and Basil standing about twenty feet away, staring at them.

Squalo was dressed in his normal Varia combat outfit, which always bothered people. It was like he was going to switch to assassin mode at any time.

Basil was wearing a full suit an tie like most other mafia, but his suit was the same color as Tsuna's vest, sparkling white. It was an effort to symbolically separate him from the other Vongola. He is the same as them, but at the same time a polar opposite.

"Tsuna-dono, I'm glad thou art enjoying yourself, but we've been waiting for thee for quite a while." said Basil, slightly annoyed. And you know something's wrong when Basil is anything other then calm.

"A...ah, um, s-sorry guys. Didn't mean to keep you waiting." Tsuna quickly tried to cover up for the hug by blowing past it, urging his three companions onward to the airport. Basil handed Tsuna a spare umbrella as he popped out another one for himself and Squalo.

As Chrome silently scooted under the umbrella with Tsuna, they both blushed and looked away. Basil sighed.

This will be an interesting trip.

For those of you who didn't read the one-shot, this chapter is an adaption of it. Feel disappointed? Then please, continue reading. Chapter 2 should be up as well. After that, I'm going to update every saturday or sunday. Unless I finish the story early, at which point updates will be daily. Again, please review.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.