Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Pairing-to-be: Chrome/Tsuna/Mukuro and other pairings are still fluid in my planning. Gokudera/Yamamoto/Haru has been mentioned.

Chapter Seven

Everyone stared at the little girl in Care Bear pajamas.

"Um, sweetie…" Tsunayoshi started an attempt to explain but he seemed confused himself.

Mukuro smirked. "Tsunayoshi-koi actually kissed me."

Tsunayoshi's face darkened to a deep red. Gokudera, less oblivious than as a teenager, offered to help Tsunayoshi with breakfast and ushered them all out—even the glaring Serafina—of the kitchen.

Chrome and Serafina glared at Mukuro. Chikusa stared out the dinning room windows, appearing to pay no attention to the outburst. Mukuro imagined he was annoyed. Chikusa did not have the imagination to predict Tsunayoshi being the one to kiss Mukuro and he likely felt the need to change his—Chrome's—plots.

Chrome edge towards Mukuro. From their mental link, he could feel her anger and confusion.

A crash rattled the silverware on the table, followed by loud, familiar curses. From the way Chikusa sighed, Mukuro felt no need to react. Chikusa walked out of the room without another word. Mukuro raised an eyebrow at Chrome and received an image of Ken bundled up in blankets. "Ah. I had forgotten how rough mornings can be."

"Your-" Chrome looked at Serafina and then back to Mukuro. Silently, she continued. Of course you would forget. You spend more time with Hibari than us.

Mukuro frowned. He had this argument with Chrome a long time ago, probably a year he started seeing Hibari. She had not repeated the specific argument after he accused her of acting like a child and said he had his own life. Mukuro was pretty sure that was what sparked her, Ken, and Chikusa to go against him. Chrome definitely changed—perhaps even "grew up" like he had ordered her too. She loved him—Mukuro could feel it—but she stopped depending so much on him. He had apologized and tried to spend more time with them, though that attempt quickly disappeared.

"Chrome-chan." He extended his arm towards her.

She walked towards him and then passed him. "I need to get dressed."

Mukuro was tempted to pinch himself to see if this was an illusion but he knew better. He had not surrendered his sense of reality.

A familiar click brought his attention back to Serafina. "Is that a real gun?" Mukuro was ninety-nine percent certain Tsunayoshi restricted any gifts of weaponry to his daughter.

Serafina cocked her head to the side. The handgun remained aimed at his chest. "Did otou-chan really kiss you?"

Mukuro tilted his head, allowing his hair to fall away from his red eye. The little girl stared back, her gun level and unshaken.

Mukuro stepped forward and with a millisecond's notice created an illusion body in front of him.

Serafina stared at the illusion, surprised. "Opps."

For dramatics and a little revenge, Mukuro had the illusion fall to its knees, gasping.

Serafina looked above the illusion right at him. "It was a paintball."

Mukuro chuckled and allowed his form to appear as the illusion disappeared. "Do paintball guns normally have safeties?"

"Xanxus gave it to me." She smirked at him. Mukuro imagined this part of her personality was from her mother or picked up from one of her many 'aunts and uncles' in the Vongola. Or maybe Reborn never gave Tsunayoshi the chance to be self-satisfied. The Arcobaleno seemed determined kept the Decimo on his toes. "Otou-chan is going to yell at you for trying to give me a traumatic experience."

"And how will he react to you having a gun?"

"It shoots paint." She defended, looking unsure. Her eyes watered up and Mukuro could feel tugs on his metaphorical heart. He pushed them away. "I really didn't mean to shoot you. Honest."

"Yes."

Tears rolled down her cheeks forgotten as she blinked up at him. "Yes what?"

"Your 'otou-chan' kissed me."

Her wide eyed, slack jawed expression was similar to his first time meeting the Vongola Decimo. Without the screaming and falling down part. Tsunayoshi was never able to cover his emotions when he was younger. Serafina seemed no better. Mukuro could practically taste her confusion and worries. He chuckled.

Serafina glared at him, once again raising her paintball gun.

Sometimes, Serafina seemed like a clone of her father. She seemed to have so little of her mother that could not be attributed to influence by the Vongola—save those blue eyes but the glare she gave Mukuro reflected Xanxus when his temper was just about to boil over. Mukuro had spied extensively on Gaetana Corvi, as did many of the Vongola, other mafia groups, reporters, and government agencies after the unexpected wedding announcement. Gaetana was a sneaky one; she bottled her anger and plotted under fake smiles, never directly confronted the source of her anger.

He wondered what qualities of her mother Serafina had yet to discover. The woman was very much a mystery, and beyond social spats and marry into the Vongola family Gaetana never did anything particularly interesting. Though, Mukuro had given her points for dying to protect her daughter. His mother wouldn't have body slammed a man out of a ninth story building to prevent him from getting shot.

"Mama told me the Otou-san is too soft and I should make sure who ever kisses him is worthy."

"Your mother let Otou-chan kiss others?" Mukuro raised an eyebrow. Gaetana seemed more than a little spiteful and jealousy seemed to go along with that. Perhaps she did more interesting things than he had thought.

Serafina nodded rapidly and then paused. "Usually they kiss him and Otou-chan tries to avoid it."

Mukuro smiled even as he felt jealousy. Tsunayoshi was not the type to cheat on his wife…even if she seemed willing to let him. Had he known Gaetana's policy, he might have risked—no, whether his wife allowed him or not, Tsunayoshi would not cheat on his love. "Is Byakuran worthy?"

Serafina shrugged. "I can't tell. Papa likes him sometimes but he doesn't want him to stay in the house and Mama didn't like him."

Mukuro gave a mental point to Gaetana. If he remembered correctly, she now had five. "Byakuran is definitely not worthy."

She crossed her arms. "Oh?"

"He would hurt Otou-chan."

Blue eyes flashed. Mukuro could not tell if it was a trick of the light or a manifestation of her element. "And you wouldn't?"

Mukuro frowned. "Sometimes people hurt each other, even if they do not wish to."

Serafina stared intensely. There was no anger to make it a glare but Mukuro felt like she was dissecting them. So this is what you get when you cross the Vongola Intuition with a social piranha. "If you didn't make it up to him, I would shoot you."

Mukuro chuckled. "Do you think you could take me down?"

Serafina held her head up high. "I would have help. Chrome would help me."

"Ah…my Chrome-chan would never turn against me." Mukuro smirked.

Serafina raised a single eyebrow. "Are you sure? You hurt her too."

"Chrome-chan is complicated."

"Sometimes people hurt each other, even if they do not wish to." Serafina said and nodded sagely.

Mukuro used an illusion, stronger than the last one, to appear behind Serafina without her noticing. He leaned down and attacked her sides. "Don't steal my words, young Undicesimo."

She laughed hard. Mukuro barely had to work at tickling her but hold her still was another matter.

"Stop! Stop!" She shrieked out. Mukuro immediately looked to the kitchen doors.

The doors opened slightly and Tsunayoshi peaked out. He watched Mukuro and Serafina for a few seconds before retreating back into the kitchen and closing the doors again, unconcerned with Mukuro being alone with his daughter.

"Serafina," He held his hands still at her side. "Answer a question and I will stop tickling you for the moment."

Serafina nearly bended over backwards to look up at him. "How about you just stop forever?"

"Hmm…Or I could start tickling you again." Mukuro moved his fingers slightly over her ribs.

She jumped. "Okay! What's the question?"

"Am I worthy?"

Serafina stared at him, her eyes unreadable for the first time. "I don't know you well enough. Stick around and we will see."

Was the girl trying to bribe him into staying? Mukuro threatened her with his fingers again. "What can you tell me now?"

"You're like Byakuran."

That settled it. Mukuro would be staying for a while. Serafina needed to learn he was not "like" Byakuran. And Byakuran was completely unworthy for her father.

Mukuro and Chrome, on the other hand, were more than worthy. Tsunayoshi kissed him after all.


I never seem satisfied with Mukuro's POV. Any hints to make Mukuro more Mukuro-ish?

I have come to realize Serafina doesn't act like an eight year old child but I am attributing that to her being surround by the Mafia, having developed the Vongola Intuition early, and having witnessed her mother's death.

Suggestion to anyone who likes Mafia movies and comedies: watch Analyze This. It's a decade old movie about a psychiatrist and the (American) Mafia Boss he has to help with…issues. I found the movie absolutely hysterical.