Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

Chapter 10: What can be Seen Through the Mist

Tsuna stood, breathing heavily, just outside the door of the Vongola base. That run-in with Hibari had really shaken him. 'I thought Jack said no one could see me!' he frantically thought. 'It was probably just a fluke…right?' Tsuna attempted to comfort himself. He tried to shake any thoughts from his head. Maybe he'd just return when he thought Hibari had cooled off some.

"Jack?" he called hesitantly. Surely the junior grim reaper would be ticked about him calling so soon after the previous call. And he didn't have manga. Oops.

Tsuna closed his eyes and braced himself for the inevitable lecture, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself back in the golden lobby of the dead. He panicked. He knew his days weren't up and he hadn't used the pill…

He saw Jack standing in a long line, a sour expression on the blonde's face, and raced over to him.

"Jack," he began. "What's going on? I know I still had a few days-"

"I know," Jack snapped, cutting the brunette off. "I'm here to get more travel tokens."

"Er, travel tokens?" Tsuna asked timidly.

"Yeah. What, did you think I could just bend space and dimension for free? I gotta get more tokens so I can cart you off to wherever you want."

"So… how long do we have to wait?" Tsuna questioned.

"I don't know… Couple hours," Jack replied irritably.

"So…what am I supposed to do?" Tsuna asked, running his fingers through his hair.

"How should I know?" Jack responded, resigning himself to a long wait. "Maybe you can help my sister feed the Venus fly traps." He pointed to the woman at the reception desk who had pulled out a bucket of questionable meat.

Tsuna looked at the long line and back to the woman. Stand in a long line with a grumpy reaper, or feed sketchy meat to deadly plants?

Tsuna headed over to Jack's sister.

~~~~~Back on Earth~~~~~

Hibari had left the plane as soon as possible, getting in a car bound for the Vongola mansion in Italy. Hopefully, he wouldn't run into a Bucking Horse right now. Beat up the stupid pineapple first, then deal with Dino.

Then again, Dino was still trying to prevent an all-out mafia war among the families. Word had leaked that the Vongola no longer had a successor, which had led to upstart families trying to prove their power to the mafia world. Luckily, many of the smaller families hadn't stood a chance against Hibari or Mukuro and Chrome, which was good because all the other Guardians were incapable of fighting, from what Hibari had heard. Weak herbivores, all of them. Unable to fight without the omnivore. Well, Hibari was different.

He exited the car and strode up the steps to the mansion, flashing only his ring and a glare to be allowed through the gates. The maids fell all over themselves welcoming the Cloud guardian, but he strode past them with and uninterested look on his face. Where was his prey?

There! Out of the corner of his eye! There was no mistaking that stupid pineapple silhouette. Hibari raised his tonfas and…!

Lowered them in disappointment. The person who stood in front of them was the other herbivore, Chrome. Hibari frowned.

"Um, Hibari-san…" Chrome began. "I didn't know you were in Italy…"

"Just got in," he replied briskly.

"Ah…" Chrome nodded. "Um, did you need something?" Hibari considered her question.

"Where is the pineapple herbivore?" he asked.

"M-mukuro-sama has stepped out for a little bit. He was muttering something not being right in the afterlife."

"Hn," Hibari muttered in acknowledgement. "I'm going to sleep then. Send someone up when he returns." The prefect left in a flap of his jacket, Hibird trailing behind him.

Chrome was left standing in the hallway, slightly confused. She shook her head. "Boss," she muttered. "Everything's been odd since you left."

~~~~~Flashback~~~~~

Chrome had been excited. She was going to meet Haru and Kyoko later to go to a little cake shop and chat over tea. Afterwards, they were going to visit Tsuna to play with the kids. I-pin would teach her a few more martial arts moves and they would make dinner together. Mukuro had said something about checking on Ken and Chikusa and Chrome had seen him off. It was such a beautiful day.

Just as she had been about to leave for the shop, she had gotten a call from Kyoko. Tsuna was in a car accident. It was bad. That was all Chrome understood before she had run down to where Mukuro and the gang were. She had arrived out of breath, but managed to pant out that they needed to get to the hospital immediately.

Chrome knew that Mukuro and Tsuna had never been close per se, but he had rushed out of there, dragging Chrome behind him, all the way to the hospital. They had burst into the room, and saw that they were the last of the Guardians to make it.

Chrome had covered her mouth in horror at seeing her boss and friend hooked up to so many different machines. Mukuro's mouth had been set in a grim line. A few minutes after they had arrived, Hibari had stalked out, a determined look on his face. The other Guardians had simply sat in a stunned silence, unsure of what to do without their sky.

~~~~~Flashback over~~~~~

Chrome had tried to pick herself up after his death, like Haru and Kyoko had tried. All the girls supported each other as they recovered. They had slept over at another's house almost every night and sometimes laughed, but mostly cried. Tsuna had been such a warm and gentle person, and now that light was gone from the world.

Chrome had gone with Mukuro when he'd announced he was going to Italy to make sure there were no attacks on the Vongola members operating outside of Japan. Of course, CEDEF and the Varia were working around the clock to do the same task, but Mukuro wasn't satisfied with that explanation. Chrome had secretly believed that Mukuro had just wanted to get away from everything that reminded him of Tsuna. Chrome didn't blame him; she didn't want to remember all the happy times in Japan. They just hurt her heart more.

Lately, Mukuro had seemed agitated. He'd confidentially told Chrome that there was something suspicious surrounding Tsuna's death. He'd been investigating the darkest depths of the mafia realm ever since. The illusionist had disappeared for days on end and, when he returned, just seemed to get more and more frustrated and withdrawn. Chrome was still grieving Tsuna's death, but she was worried even more that Mukuro would run himself ragged.

'Boss,' Chrome thought. 'If you were here, what would you do?'

~~~~~The Lobby~~~~~

Tsuna sneezed as he lowered a chunk of suspicious meat into a the waiting jaws of a Venus fly trap. The receptionist looked at him suspiciously.

"You better not have a cold," she warned.

"I-I don't believe I do," Tsuna stammered, squirming under her piercing gaze. Luckily, he was saved from the stare down when Jack tapped him on the shoulder and announced that he had enough travel tokens for the rest of Tsuna's remaining days. Tsuna sighed in relief and requested to be transported to where Chrome was. He disappeared in a flash of light.

The receptionist stared skeptically at her brother. "You aren't going with him this time?" she questioned. He shook his head.

"Nope. I've got a sneaking suspicion that car accident wasn't an accident," he muttered. "I'm going to do some research." The blonde reaper headed off to the record archives.

The receptionist rolled her eyes. "Of course it wasn't an accident," she said to herself, tossing some meat to a waiting Venus fly trap. "Why else would a car be racing at 60 miles per hour through a school zone?"

~~~~~Vongola Italy Mansion~~~~~

Tsuna was unceremoniously dropped in the lobby of the Vongola mansion. He stood up and dusted himself off. 'I'm getting way too used to this,' he thought, glancing at his surroundings.

Once he managed to get his bearings, he started wandering aimlessly around the endless corridors. "We seriously need to put some maps in our headquarters," he muttered, passing the same portrait of Vongola Nono for the seventh time. He sighed and went down another corridor he hoped he hadn't been through before. He rounded the corner and…

BAM!

Tsuna fell to the ground as the other figure did the same.

'Oh-no…' Tsuna thought, opening his eyes slowly. 'Good thing they can't see me…' When his eyes were fully focused, he realized the other figure was none other than Chrome, who was looking directly at him, eyes widened in surprise. 'Can she…?' Tsuna mentally wondered. His speculations were confirmed by her next word.

"Boss?"

A/N: *dodges various sharp objects and rotten produce* Wow... it's been a while, huh? Well, this story's plot actually seems to be moving in the forward direction! It must be a MiRaClE :O)

Anyways, the story probably won't last too much longer (I already have an ending in mind in a few more chapters) but thanks for sticking with me, even after an unbearably long hiatus :D You guys are all awesome.

So please review! Your reviews were literally the only thing that kept me from abandoning this story... Thanks :D