Disclaimer: The characters and concepts presented are created and copyright of Akira Amano. The story is copyright of me, so do not use without permission.

Mario sat with an evil grin at his desk, glaring at the comatose young man in the chair opposite him. Hibari's head was hanging down with open, shocked eyes and a gaping mouth. Mario's illusion had indeed felled the young man, as it had started since Hibari entered the room. Mario's pride swelled up as he kept on his concentration to ultimately seal the young man in the illusion world forever. Then, his phone rang. He glanced at it and quickly pressed the speaker button.

"This is Mario" he greeted on the line.

"Hello sir," said a nervous, feminine voice. "You have a call from one of the guests. He says it's an emergency."

"I'm sure it is…" Mario said. "Patch him through, then."

"Yes sir" she replied. It had been somewhat the same since the hot spring was obliterated yesterday, people calling in every half-hour or so it seemed regarding the damage that had been done. Mario had fielded dozens of similar complaints, and a few seconds of paperwork wouldn't detract him from his main duty at the moment, that being to keep this berserk youth from tearing his office asunder.

The phone beeped and the caller was connected. "Hello," Mario said cordially. "I am the resort manager, Mario. How may I help you today?"

"Ciaossu" greeted the caller likewise in a painfully familiar voice. Mario's eyes shot wide open and he stood up in disbelief. "I lost one of my cabin-mates. If you find him, please ask him to come back as we're worried about him. His name is…" Mario turned very slowly across his desk. The young man was already bearing his metal tonfas, ready to strike, and leaping over the desk.

"…Hibari Kyoya. Thank you." The receiver clicked and the call ended. Hibari stood victoriously over the incapacitated body of the illusionist, having just readjusted his jaw significantly to the right. Hibari sheathed his tonfas again and started out the door.

"It's nothing personal…" he began as he left. "…I just despise your kind." With his explanation hanging in the air, he shut the door and began off to his own cabin again. Having found no information in an outside source, he decided to inquire with an immediate party instead.

Back at the lodge, the Vongola had greeted their new guest with a warm blanket and a hot cup of cocoa.

"Thank you," the blonde man said, taking the cup and sipping from it.

"How'd you even get here, Dino-san?" Tsuna asked.

"Well," Dino started, "I decided to take a vacation up here because things were going so well back at home. The calm Japanese mountains seemed more appealing to me than the steep Italian Alps…" Everyone was listening intently to his well, crafted story. "So, this morning I was out with my men skiing…when all of a sudden…" there was a long pause from Dino's serious tone. When he started again, his voice regressed back to the panic he knew earlier. "…I lost sight of them. And then, out of nowhere, all these bears started chasing me!"

HOW DO YOU MESS UP SO BAD YOU GET BEARS!! Tsuna internally shouted. Gokudera and Ryohei stared narrowly at each other.

"b…bears, eh?" Gokudera stuttered, feigning perfect innocence.

"Weird!" Ryohei agreed.

"I know how it sounds," Dino admitted shamefully, "but now I can't find my men either. If it's alright with you, I'd like to stay here for the night. No telling how far those bears followed me from the woods…" Dino glanced warily at the door, silently hoping that there wasn't anything out there.

"Well," Reborn started, "that's all up to Tsuna. It's his cabin, after all."

"What?" Tsuna exclaimed. "Since when?"

"Well, Tsuna-san?" Dino said giving his best piteous look, which still glistened with a thick air of coolness.

"Of course it's alright with me" Tsuna said. "You can stay with us for now. We're here for the rest of the week anyway."

"That's great" Dino said. "Thanks, Tsuna." Dino picked up his cup and went for a drink, but smacked the rim against his cheekbone instead, pouring hot chocolate on his face. "AHH-HAAH! This stuff's hot!"

Besides, if you go outside without your men you'll probably get hit by a comet… Tsuna thought. He rushed off into the kitchen and brought back a towel for Dino, still moping over his misfortune.

"Well, it's good to have you here, Dino" Bianchi said, watching the frazzled man wipe his already wet clothes with the towel.

"Psst" someone hushed from the stairwell. Tsuna's ears picked up on it and he turned slightly to see. A hand was beckoning him over quickly. Tsuna glanced at the group, then back over at the stairs and silently slunk away. No one noticed him go initially, as everyone's concentration was placed on Dino, but at length, someone did seem to notice his absence.

Tsuna walked through the door to the balcony and into the cool night air. A light snow was falling and powdering the chairs and tables not under the covering from the roof. He looked around for whomever it was that called him, but saw no one. He went to go back downstairs when the door shut by itself.

"Eh…" Tsuna cowered. "Hello?" he heard the light steps of someone from behind, but was too paralyzed to effectively engage them. Slowly, and haltingly, he turned his head while trying not to really look. He saw a reaching hand, a spiked head, and a terrifying skull. Tsuna wheezed with terror and fell over onto the balcony floor.

"Boss!" Chrome called out. She rushed over and knelt down to pick up Tsuna's head. "Are you alright? You look startled." Tsuna struggled to form the words after just barely dodging a serious heart attack.

"I'm fine" he shakily said. "You kind of took me by surprise, though…"

"Oh, I'm sorry" Chrome apologized. "I wanted to talk to you, but I was afraid to approach you since that new man is here. I didn't think he'd trust you and I to talk alone…"

"You mean, Dino-san?" Tsuna questioned. Chrome nodded and Tsuna picked himself up to brush off the snow on his butt. "He's a friend of mine, and a former student of Reborn-san. If you told him you were in our family, he'd definitely trust you…" What am I saying!? Tsuna thought with an honest, bashful face. I actually sound like a mobster!

"Well, that's good.." Chrome replied shyly. "Anyway, I should start talking before we're discovered."

"Eh?" Tsuna whimpered. What could Chrome want to talk about that required total privacy? Or perhaps, this was Mukuro making his lethal move on Tsuna using Chrome as an in-between? Tsuna was ready to start running at the first sign of definite trouble, when Chrome started her side of the conversation.

"Do you like Kyoko-san?" she asked innocently. Tsuna stopped breathing for a few moments. His face went from just normal, fear-shock pale to deep blue embarrassment.

"Eh?" he wheezed finally.

"Kyoko-san had a similar response to that question," Chrome said. "So, you two must think the same thing. Do you boss?" Tsuna tried to back away, and he felt for the door behind him but could only find wooden tiles. He turned around and yelped to see that the door was gone, as was the window, and the roof. The entire landscape had been apparently altered by use of some rather obvious force.

"I'm concerned for both of you," Chrome said calmly as the walls kept erupting out of nowhere and boxed them both in. Tsuna stayed tight against the imaginary wall as he could while she kept on closing in. "If you don't admit your feeling's, you'll end up very sad with yourselves. I know…" Tsuna calmed down and edged off of the wall a little. "…I have to keep my feelings hidden from even myself sometimes…" A small tear rolled down her cheek.

"Well," Tsuna started now feeling guilty. "I do like her…" Chrome looked up, and the walls started to sink back into the ground. Tsuna kept rubbing the back of his neck.

"How much?" Chrome blurted, nearly jumping at him. Her illusion was broken, and Tsuna's head hit at the door from his bending spontaneously at the knees in surprise.

"Well," he started very shyly, "a lot. But, she doesn't think the same way…" Chrome backed off and put a finger to her lips. She tilted her head back and forth very casually and hummed quietly to herself. Tsuna was about to say something, but Chrome turned around very suddenly with a shining smile on her face.

"Got it, boss!" she cheered. Tsuna shielded his eyes.

"Ah!" Tsuna screamed. "I've never seen Chrome-chan so bright before! IT HURTS!" Chrome started pushing the boy along and back into the house.

"I won't tell anybody" Chrome said in a horrifically bubbly way. Both went down the stairs and around the corner over to her room. "I'll just let myself to bed. Good night, boss!" she nearly sang as she shut her door and blew a quick kiss. Tsuna was left in total shock.

What the heck just happened? He questioned. Then, a realization and logical explanaition came to him. He pounded his fist into his hand and his face returned to a neutral, good-hearted emotion again. It must have all been an illusion! Chrome just wanted to mess with me like everyone else has been doing, like friends, and try to get me going. Man, I didn't know she had it in her to do something like that. Tsuna laughed at himself and started off to the other set of stairs back into the sitting room.

"Phew!" Chrome sighed as she plopped herself down on the bed. "I've never acted so cheery before. I wonder if he saw through me…oh well." Chrome got back up and walked over to her stark suitcase with her only sleeping attire and started to undress. "I'll make more definite plans for the boss and Kyoko tomorrow."

And so, the day came to a close with Dino visiting and sleeping in the room with Tsuna and Reborn. Tsuna shrugged the bizarre event with Chrome off as a hallucination/illusion…one or the other was fine with him. Everyone was glad to have another tenant in the house, if at least for a day or so, and the night was peaceful for once. Then, in the darkest hour, a clatter arose from the balcony that was quickly stayed. Down the deck quietly marched a mysterious figure, clutching wet and ragged cloth in hand and a gleaming shine from his eyes. Silently, Hibari crept back into the hall and into his room, discarding his bloodied and battle-tattered clothes away and falling face first onto his bed.

His day was bad, let's leave it at that…