I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

If you have any Halloween-themed prompts, feel free to leave them in a review and I might pick one or two. The holiday is fast approaching and I figure it's time to start thinking about the upcoming Halloween chapter.

Kokuyo Road Trip

Mukuro decided, and he was probably jumping the gun on this, that this was the worst idea any of them had ever had. He thought this was a bold statement, especially considering he was living with Ken, who was notorious for coming up with horrible ideas.

"That's it. I'm turning this car around."

Chrome, who was sitting beside him in the passenger's seat, cast him an exasperated glance. "Mukuro-sama, you've been saying that since we left Namimori."

"I mean it this time," the male illusionist growled. Due to the fact that his heterochromatic eyes were locked on the road, he could not turn in his seat to glower at the rambunctious males in the back. "If we don't go back home now, not all of us will make it back alive."

"He's talking to you," spoke Fran. The tiny teal-haired nine-year-old was seated in between Ken and Chikusa, and was currently trapped in a headlock by the blonde. Their constant bickering was the source of Mukuro's agitation.

Ken glared at the child and tightened his hold. "He won't have any reason to turn this car around if you're dead."

"Ken, let him go," chided Chrome.

Scowling, Ken reluctantly obeyed. Fran sat up straight and smiled smugly. Gritting his teeth, Ken turned his head to glare out the window. "I cannot stay in this vehicle for much longer without severely harming someone."

"That makes two of us," grumbled Mukuro.

Chikusa, who sat to the left of Fran, folded his arms behind his head and looked lazily at the back of Mukuro's head. "Mukuro-sama, can we just kick those two out of the vehicle and be done with it?"

"Why us?" demanded Ken, snapping his head around.

"You two are the ones driving me insane," returned Mukuro. "And believe me, that's not an easy task to accomplish."

"Especially since you're already crazy," piped up Fran.

Ken pointed at the apple hood-wearing child in accusation. "It's his fault! He needs an attitude adjustment."

"Funny. I could say the same about you," drawled Chikusa.

"Shut up, Kakipi."

Mukuro looked wearily at his female counterpart. "Chrome, why did we decide to drive four hours to attend some fair that has nothing but pumpkins and dusty animals?"

Chrome pushed a strand of indigo hair behind her ear, a slight smile on her lips. "We thought it would be fun."

"No, you thought it would be fun," corrected Chikusa. "For some reason, you managed to trick the lot of us into coming with you."

Chrome laughed. "I didn't trick you. I asked, and after a lot of asking, you finally agreed."

"I didn't," said Fran, a slight frown on his face. "But you people wouldn't let me stay home."

Since they were currently idling at a set of stoplights, Mukuro took the chance to twist around in his seat and stare at their young companion in astonishment. "I am not leaving a nine-year-old home alone, where he has access to dangerous items to utilize without supervision. Especially not you, after that whole blender incident."

Fran flushed slightly. "I thought we'd moved past that."

The light turned green and Mukuro twisted back to face the front. They continued on their journey, Mukuro's sleek black car rolling down the seemingly endless road. They passed through the small town and soon ended up on a long stretch of asphalt that went through rolling fields and towering trees. Fran peeked over Chikusa to look out the window.

"Are you sure this is the way?" he asked dubiously.

"I don't know, are you the one with a map?" countered Mukuro.

Chrome looked at the large map that stretched across the dashboard. She used her finger to trail against the red lines and looked back at Fran with a reassuring smile. "We're right on track. We should be there in about an hour."

Chikusa glanced at his watch. "So we'll have at least three hours at the fair before having to truck back all the way home."

"What a great day," said Ken sarcastically.

"Hey, if Mukuro-sama was willing to get up earlier, we wouldn't be getting there so late," protested Chrome. "Besides, we don't have to come home right away. I'm sure there's a hotel nearby."

"You wanted us leave at eight in the morning," snorted Mukuro. "Hell with that."

Chrome huffed and crossed her arms. "It's not my fault none of you are morning people."

"No, but is your fault we're out here in the first place," brought up Ken.

Sighing in surrender, Chrome settled back against her seat. "You'll all have fun when we get there."

"We'll see," Mukuro said dubiously.

The final hour of travel resulted with Fran dozing off, slouched against Chikusa. When they were ten minutes away from their destination, a torrential downpour started, sheets of rain drenching everything below in seconds.

Eyes all but slits as he peered out the windshield, Mukuro swore loudly. Chrome swatted him in the shoulder in disapproval. "Don't swear."

"I think this requires cursing," snapped Mukuro, more than frustrated. "We've driven four damn hours to the middle of nowhere, and now the weather is bad enough that we can't even do what we planned to do."

"I'm hungry," whined Ken, arms curling around his growling stomach.

Chrome glanced at the car's clock. It was well past six. Since the fall fair closed at nine and the weather was currently wretched, she figured there was no point in continuing to their initial destination. "Let's find a hotel," she said. "We're almost to town."

"Food!" whooped Ken.

"Shut up," chided Chikusa, lightly draping his arm over the snoozing Fran.

Using her phone, Chrome managed to find a decent hotel with food service in the town in which the fair was being hosted. Mukuro pulled into the parking lot, shut his vehicle off and climbed out, ducking his head against the hard downpour.

"Let's go!" he bellowed.

Chrome was the first to get through the hotel doors, followed by Mukuro and Ken. Chikusa came last, arms locked around Fran. The kid's apple hood guarded him from most of the water, and he was oblivious to what was going on, still sound asleep.

"Right," said Mukuro, wiping the water droplets from his face. "Let's check in and get some food."

Chrome approached the front desk and said politely, "Excuse me, we'd like to get a few rooms for the night."

The woman looked up from her computer, a smile on her lips. She was momentarily caught off guard by the one-eyed woman and heterochromatic male, but regained her thoughts soon enough. "I'm afraid we're down to our last room for the night," she apologized.

Ken's eyes narrowed. "How many beds does the room have?"

"Two, and a couch."

Mukuro glanced at his four companions. What the hell. We live together anyway. Only difference is that we don't get our own bedrooms. "That's fine."

Chrome filled out the required information and charged the purchase to her credit card. "One key is fine, thanks."

Nodding, the woman handed over the slim silver card. The group made their way to the elevator and rode up to the fourth floor. They went down the burgundy-carpeted corridor and they reached their room. Chrome slid the key through the security lock and pushed the door open.

"Not exactly how I expected this day to go," spoke Chikusa.

Mukuro snorted and shrugged off his wet jacket. "That makes two of us."

"I'll order our food!" said Ken excitedly, moving straight for the nightstand table between the two beds, which held the room service menu.

"Food?" a groggy voice asked. Fran lifted his head from Chikusa's shoulder and peered sleepily at his friends. "I want rice balls."

Chikusa clicked his tongue. "Look who roused from the dead." He set the boy to the floor and rubbed his head playfully. "Change of plans, kid. Weather turned bad so we're crashing here for the night."

"Great," muttered Fran, rubbing at his eyes. He then noticed the two rather small beds and asked, "Who's crashing on the couch?"

"You," replied Ken, eyes roaming through the food options.

"No way."

"We'll decide that later," interjected Mukuro, rubbing a hand down his face. "First off, get your wet clothes into the bathroom so they can dry."

"We didn't exactly bring spare clothes," pointed out Chikusa.

"I spotted a gift shop downstairs," spoke up Chrome. "I can go down there and see what they got."

Mukuro nodded. "Do that. We'll order the food. You want anything specific?"

"No, I'm fine with whatever," Chrome said before departing. Chikusa brought Fran into the bathroom to help him out of his wet clothes and Mukuro helped Ken pick out the items to order (and making sure he didn't go overboard).

By the time Chrome returned with a plastic bag full of new pajamas, the food had already arrived and her male friends were digging in. They were all shirtless, since their tops were wet and were hanging on the racks in the bathroom to dry.

"You couldn't wait for me?" she teased, setting the bag down on the bed closest to the door.

"No," said Ken, his mouth stuffed with food. They were surrounding the table in the kitchenette section of their room, food in cardboard containers covering the wooden surface.

"What did you get?" Fran asked curiously.

"Pajama shirts," she replied. "I figured you wouldn't need pajama pants."

"Why, because we're guys?" asked Ken.

Chrome rolled her eyes. "No, because you walk around in your boxers back home anyway."

"Fair point," conceded Ken.

Mukuro wrinkled his nose. "That's something we need to talk about, by the way."

"Later," dismissed Ken.

"Hey, I'll give you a rice ball if I can have some of your takoyaki," bargained Fran.

"Deal." Ken moved one of his takoyaki balls to Fran's plate and took the proffered rice ball in return.

Chikusa regarded the exchange in amusement. "It's always when food is involved that the two of you are in agreement with each other."

"I like food," said Fran with a shrug, popping the takoyaki into his mouth.

It didn't take long for them to clear out the food. With full stomachs, the group of five then had to determine something very important-who would have to sleep on the couch. "How are we going to decide this?" mused Chrome.

"Wrestling?" suggested Ken, looping his arms around Fran and body-slamming him into the mattress.

Fran grunted and kicked at the young adult who had him pinned down. "Get off me, jerk."

Ken grinned. "Make me."

As the two tussled, Mukuro thought about their minor dilemma. "Well, it's not terribly difficult. The little one can sleep with Chrome."

"Ha!" jeered Fran, managed to wriggle out of Ken's grip and clamp onto his back, small arms tightening around the blonde's neck.

"Why?" complained Ken.

Mukuro arched an eyebrow. "Because I say so. Chikusa and I will take the other bed, and you can take the couch."

"No!"

The male illusionist crossed his arms. "Do you have a problem with my order?"

Ken faltered, and after a moment of internal debate he collapsed stomach-first onto the mattress, Fran still hanging onto his back. "No," he grumbled. "It's obvious who the favourites are."

"Was there ever any doubt?" asked Chikusa.

Chrome managed to resist a giggle and she bumped his shoulder playfully. "Chikusa, be nice."

Mukuro clicked his tongue and pulled lightly on Ken's blonde locks. "Idiot. You snore like an elephant and thrash about like maniac. I am not sleeping in the same bed as you so I can wake up with a million bruises."

Ken glanced up with a slight smirk. "I don't snore."

"Like you hell you don't," scoffed Chikusa.

Fran rolled off of Ken and his eyes zeroed in on the remote resting on the nightstand. He grabbed hold of it and turned on the television. He soon found a cartoon that he liked and satisfied, he settled back on Ken's back to use as his cushion.

Ken grunted softly and reached up to pull down Fran's apple hood. "Runt, do I look like a pillow to you?"

"Yes."

Mumbling under his breath, Ken stretched out his legs and focussed on the program the television was playing. Chikusa drifted into the bathroom to take a shower and Chrome settled down on the bed closest to the window, removing a book from her bag that she had brought with her. Mukuro pulled out his cellphone and dialled Tsuna's number, where he let his Sky know where they had ended up.

It was around eight when exhaustion settled into them. "Alright, time for bed," declared Mukuro, getting up from the edge of Chrome's bed and moving to turn off the television. "I have a feeling Chrome is going to wake our butts up early tomorrow."

Chrome lowered her book and smiled secretively. "Maybe."

"Women," grumbled Ken.

Chrome went into the bathroom to change into the pajamas she had bought herself. Her male friends changed into the grey flannel pajama bottoms Chrome had gotten them and climbed into their respective beds. When Chrome exited the bathroom she turned off the lights. Walking across the carpet, she climbed under her covers, snuggling close to Fran, who was already half-asleep.

Ken tossed and turned on the couch, which wasn't quite big enough to fit his lanky frame. "This is uncomfortable," he complained.

"Shut up," yawned Chikusa, lying back-to-back with Mukuro. He set his glasses on the nightstand table and burrowed his face into his pillow. "Try not to snore."

Irritated, Ken could only pout and try to arrange himself into a comfortable position. He managed to doze off, but for only an hour. The cool fall night soon made the temperature in the room a few degrees colder, and Ken was without a blanket.

"I'm cold," he whined.

"We can't do much about that," muttered Mukuro, his voice fatigued. "There's no extra blankets here."

Sitting up, Ken squinted through the darkness at the bed Chikusa and Mukuro were sharing. There was room for one more person, even though it would end up being a tight fit. Cold and tired and uncaring, Ken stood up and went over to the edge of the bed his male companions were sleeping in.

"Don't even think about it," growled Mukuro.

"There's room," he insisted. He climbed over Mukuro and wiggled his way into the middle. He managed to get under the covers and was soon engulfed by warmth, thanks to the shared body heat. Smiling happily, Ken said, "See?"

"Not the point," grumbled Chikusa, kicking the blonde lightly. "I'm going to go deaf if I have to hear you snoring at such close range."

"Shut up," said Fran tiredly, rolling over to bury his head underneath his pillow.

Sighing in defeat, Mukuro warned, "I'll kill you tomorrow."

"Okay."

So Ken got comfortable, and when morning came the hotel maid entered the room upon knocking to discover the sleeping group. The blonde male had one leg thrown over Chikusa's waist and an arm on Mukuro's chest. The teal-haired child had his head resting on Chrome's stomach, and the girl had a hand on the child's hair.

Finding the sight utterly adorable, the maid smiled and quietly departed.

Their checkout could wait another hour or two.