Kyoya arrived outside Room 396. He opened the door without a second thought, thinking no one's around. Chrome was lying unconscious on the bed. Hanging from the headrest were Ryohei's boxing gloves, Yamamoto's baseball gloves, Gokudera's unlit dynamites, and Lambo's lollipop. Tsuna was sitting patiently beside her, like how a boss should behave when his subordinate barely escaped the brink of death. He noticed his Cloud Guardian's presence and stood up to greet him.
"Ah, Hibari-san," Tsuna said. "Thanks for saving Chrome,"
Kyoya leaned on the wall opposite of Tsuna as he gazed at the still body of Chrome.
"I just don't anyone dying on the school grounds," He replied smoothly. Partially it was true; it would cause panic and trouble. The other part was he didn't want her to die from organ deprivation.
"How did you do it?" Tsuna asked as he sat back on his chair. "Making her new organs, I mean,"
"It was her Vongola Ring," Kyoya started. "She only needed to use a very small portion of its power to manifest organs,"
"And you figured that out easily?" Tsuna asked, bewildered. He knew the Vongola rings were very powerful, as they were part of the balance of the world, but how Kyoya manage to figure out how to use the ring in that split second was outstanding.
"I was always fascinated by how this ring works," Kyoya raised his hand and balled it into a fist. His ring glistened. "If it could withstand my flames, my most powerful flames, then I can say that the power of this ring is limitless,"
"I see," Tsuna raised his hand to look at his ring. Kyoya had done enough observations. "However, the problem lies with Mukuro,"
Kyoya's eyes narrowed at the name of the man who once humiliated him. "What do you want to do?" He may not like to be bossed around and he'd rather be the one bossing around, but only with Tsuna can he wait for the orders given.
"I had already asked Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun to find any means to contact him or even find him. We need to know his conditions right now. Onii-san and Lambo are going to check the Kokuyo Land incase there might be any strange occurrences " Tsuna explained, turning into the boss he is. He had a habit of being very serious when doing work and going into battles, but he still is no good Tsuna during daily activities.
"What am I going to do?" Kyoya asked. He hadn't received any orders regarding Mukuro. Yet, since Tsuna knows the bad blood between the two, it was far better for him to stay away from this assignment.
"I'm going to go join Gokudera-kun now," Tsuna said as he got up from his chair. "Hibari-san, please stay here and look after Chrome," Kyoya was supposed to feel anger towards this pathetic assignment, but as he glanced at Chrome's body, he'd rather complied. Tsuna shut the door close with a thud.
"Cloud person?" Chrome muttered weakly as she fluttered her eyes open. The last thing she remembered was being pushed through the doors of the emergency room and giving a glance at the man who saved her life. Her eyes hovered over the room to the head rest and back to Kyoya. "Why...are you here?"
"Why, you ask," Kyoya muttered to himself. He hadn't exactly thought it over. Why was he in this room? Why was he obediently following Tsuna's orders to watch over her? If it were him, he could have left the hospital the minute he stepped foot outside the building. Then why was it different now? Was it because of this young lady that held him im his place?
"Mukuro-sama," Chrome gasped in realization. Her eyes widened in fear at the thought of losing him. "What happened to Mukuro-sama?"
"Who knows," Kyoya replied. True enough, he has no clue as to what happened to the damned Mukuro.
"I have to find him!" She exclaimed as she tried to get the oxygen mask off her. "I need to find him,"
"Take that mask off and you'll probably die," Kyoya warned. Her body was still weak for the new organs and she needed oxygen. Take that mask off, and she'll suffer great pain. Her thrashing ceased at his words. Chrome had enough sense to live and so she obediently dropped her hands. Kyoya wanted to tell her that there was nothing to fear, since the others are already on the move.
"Why are you doing this?" Chrome asked, curious to know the reason. And yet, Kyoya was still at loss. He ignored the question that was still rumbling in his head.
"You should get some rest," Kyoya told her. "If you get any better, you might get to find Rokudo Mukuro,"
That brightened her up. She smiled warmly at the thought and changed her resolve in finding Mukuro. Her ring lit up flames bigger than she was used to, purer and brighter than ever. One simple goal managed to lit up pure flames of Mist. How easy this world is. Kyoya checked the wall clock. It was half past four in the afternoon.
"Hey," Kyoya called her. Chrome turned slowly to look at him. "After you get out, what are you going to do?"
"Look for Mukuro-sama," Chrome answered easily. It was her main objective now.
"And do you have any leads?" Kyoya pestered on.
Chrome bit her lip for a moment. "Well, I suppose not. But I'm sure I can trace our link together and find where he was before it got disconnected,"
"Can you do it now?" Kyoya asked. He didn't mean to force her to exert effort while she's still weak. He only wanted to ask her if she can. Chrome thought for a moment before she nodded.
"I think I can get through him," She said slowly. She closed her eyes and clutched her fists. Her Vongola ring lit up a flame, delicate and soothing. She concentrated on tracing Mukuro. Starting by visualizing a thread, she connected it to the mind of Mukuro and tried to see what happened. Like a bullet train, it all rushed into her. There was a man holding cards; Ace cards of different types. It was blurry. The man seems to be standing in front of her- no, not her -in front of Mukuro. She felt the pain Mukuro had felt. His hands were shaking as he clutched his staff for support. He had suffered severe damages. The man in front of him chuckled eerily. The face of this mysterious enemy was blurred by Mukuro's vision. He was about to pass out. He-
Chrome gasped, out of breath. Usually, linking back to Mukuro on her own was definitely a piece of work but this is beyond exhausting. If she hadn't stop, she would have fainted and stuck at Mukuro's memory. Kyoya raised his eyebrows. He was observing her on the outside when she started to fidget around and started panting. She suddenly clutched her beddings when she let out a gasp. Chrome flew her eyes open as she cut off the link.
"Mukuro-sama," She gasped. "He's in danger!"
"What happened?" Kyoya asked. It was obvious something bad had happened to Mukuro. The way she just acted during the link was enough for Kyoya to deduce Mukuro was down.
"A-A man was holding ace cards in front of Mukuro-sama," Chrome recounted. "Mukuro-sama... Mukuro-sama was all beaten up. He was using all of his strength. I... I..." Chrome bit her lip to stop the tears from flowing. She felt useless, weak, and guilty. If she had gone with Mukuro, he wouldn't have suffered. A hand pressed on her head. Chrome looked up, surprised to see Kyoya patting her head softly. Even Kyoya was surprised by his own actions. Was it because she looked vulnerable that he wanted to comfort her? Impossible.
Chrome appreciated his actions as she smiled at him, "Thank you," Kyoya blinked and stopped. He looked away as his face grew hotter by the second.
"I... I should probably go," Kyoya whispered. Before Chrome could say anything, he stormed out of her room and shut the door close. Why hadn't he done that in the first place? He shook his head to clear his mind as he walked out of the hospital without turning back.
The academy was still bustling with excitement and work the next day. Tsuna hadn't shown any signs of telling the students about what happened, for he doesn't want the students to worry about anything except for the culture festival.
"Chrome is to be dispatched from the hospital later this afternoon," Tsuna announced to his Guardians, as they were gathered in the Guardian's office. "The doctors said that her health has been recovering rapidly. Of course, it would be mostly because of the Vongola ring and Chrome's hard work,"
"Did you tell the girls?" Ryohei asked, arms folded. Tsuna shook his head.
"It would be better if they didn't know," Tsuna said. Lambo raised his hand slowly and hesitantly.
"I... Uhh... Sort of spilled it to them a while ago," Lambo confessed softly. He was expecting Tsuna to get angry but Tsuna sighed, expecting it. As expected of his intuition. The door flung open and entering the office was Kyoko, Haru, and I-pin all demanding for explanation.
"Why didn't you tell us, Tsu-kun?" Kyoko asked. Tsuna's heart would still flutter everytime he'd see Kyoko, even though they dated after he confessed to her two months ago. Kyoko turned at her brother. "And you, too, onii-chan! Why?"
"That's right!" Haru slammed her hand on the table. "You know how precious Chrome is to us. Why didn't you tell us?"
"You're noisy, woman," Gokudera groaned. Haru flushed by his voice, then glared at Gokudera. They had a thing or two for each other yet too stubborn to admit. I-pin crossed her arms and glared at the selfish men.
"Calm down, you guys," Yamamoto put a hand at the ladies' shoulders. "You have to understand,"
"Furthermore," Tsuna added. "It would cause you panic with worry and we know very well how Chrome doesn't want anyone to be in shambles,"
The frustration between the ladies subsided. Tsuna sighed in relief secretly. He certainly don't want to mess with them. "Chrome will leave the hospital late this afternoon. You don't need to worry anymore, okay?"
Kyoko hesitated. "Tsu-kun... You guys always keep important stuff from us,"
"That's right," I-pin agreed. "We know you don't us to worry but we can cope up in our own,"
"I hope you guys would consider us for once," Haru muttered. Tsuna was left speechless as Kyoko kissed his cheek before they left the room. The door closed with a thud. Tsuna cleared his throat to begin their meeting again.
"Right, so..." Tsuna started. "I want to hear all your reports,"
"I'll start," Ryohei announced. "Lambo and I went to investigate Kokuyo Land for any suspicious behavior. Ken and Chikusa weren't there so it went smoothly. Nothing was off suspicious nor out of place. That means, either Mukuro planned it out without letting anyone in or he didn't plan it out but was asked to meet,"
"I see," Tsuna pondered for a moment. "It could be that Mukuro wanted to fight this man as it would seem that he went alone nor did I sense any tension in him,"
"We didn't do any well in our side, too," Gokudera started. "We tried to locate him from almost every place he's been with to find any leads. So far, luck hasn't been good to us," Tsuna nodded. This was getting hectic than he thought. His eyes strayed to Kyoya, who was sitting at the farthest end of the table.
"Ah, Hibari-san," Tsuna called. Kyoya looked at him, waiting. "How did it do with Chrome?"
"She told me she could have a link with Rokudo Mukuro as soon as she recovered," Kyoya said. "She tried once but it didn't last long. She did see some details,"
"Good," Tsuna smiled a bit. Now, they had a little bit of information. "What is it?"
"She said she saw in Rokudo Mukuro's point of view that they had a very one sided battle. He was all bruised up and tattered. He was attacked by a man using cards," Kyoya answered. Secretly, his blood was boiling at the fact that Mukuro was beaten. That would result that the man using cards was in fact, a very worthy opponent. Perhaps a bit more than Byakuran, the boss of the Mare Guardians. Tsuna raised a brow at Kyoya. He sensed tension within his Cloud Guardian.
"Hibari-san..." Tsuna muttered sternly. Kyoya sighed and folded his arms. Tsuna knows what Kyoya was thinking and Kyoya knows that as well. Tsuna returned his focus on the meeting. "All we have to do now is wait for Chrome to get back,"
"But I'm back, Boss," Chrome corrected. Everyone turned at the doorway. Chrome was standing in front of the doorway. The Guardians didn't even notice Chrome's presence as she entered the room. She, along with Mukuro, were the only ones to be able to completely hide their presence even from the Vongola Hyper Intuition. If she was able to mask her presence with the Mist, that means she recovered.
"Chrome, welcome back," Tsuna greeted, relieved. He was glad she recovered completely.
"You could have just entered the room extremely normally," Ryohei complained. Chrome flushed red at the embarrassment.
"No need to be so stealthy," Lambo chimed in as he twirled his pen around. Now Chrome was red as a tomato.
"Well, let her do what she likes," Yamamoto said cheerfully.
"Sorry," Chrome apologized softly. "I got used to it," She glanced around and her eyes met with Kyoya, who was taken aback by it. She smiled at him shyly, thanking him silently for taking care of her yesterday. Kyoya looked away and tried to ignore her, but he looked so damned happy that it was so hard to keep a straight face. Wait, could it be that he -
All those wanting, those unconscious actions, those painful and fluttering beating if his heart was all but one thing. It wasn't because she looked so fragile and small. It wasn't because he was impressed by her strength.
All along, he was in love with her.
