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.
"Well now" Mario, the resort manager started, "what happened here?"
"It was an avalanche!" Haru shouted in distress. "All of a sudden, all this snow came down and it covered the mountain, and now our friends are still there and-and..." she would have gone on, but Bianchi made sure to walk her away before she started crying again.
"Our friends were caught in the avalanche earlier" Yamamoto explained. Mario had brought with him a rescue force, complete with dogs and sophisticated sonar equipment. Most of the team was there, at the Vongola's doorstep, but others had gotten a head start on the Chiavorone slope.
"Rest assured" Mario said calmly "if they're alive we will find them. The statistics of avalanches are fairly flimsy, after all. Some people are able to survive them if they are able to remain calm and collected and not try to tunnel out themselves."
"Is there anything we can do to help!?" Yamamoto demanded urgently. Mario turned to the leader of the rescue team with him, and he nodded.
"There is something" the team leader said "that you can do. We can always use more hands to use the equipment. Consider yourself a volunteer avalanche rescue force ranger!"
"That's a cheesy title" Yamamoto said under his breath. Now that he was in the mafia, something that was so apparently childish didn't register with him anymore.
"What about me?" Gokudera asked, already geared up with his coat and boots on.
"Sure thing" the rescue leader said. He reached over to his snowmobile and retrieved two temporary 'Volunteer' badges for the boys. "Wear these while your helping us or we may get you kicked off the grounds."
"The entire mountain side will be restricted" Mario said "so no one else but the rescue team can search."
"Well, it's my mountain" Dino said from the couch. "Maybe I should help out as well."
"Anyone is welcome to help" the ranger leader said. He went to get another badge, but when he returned Dino had an entire fleet of his own men standing at attention.
"You'll need a lot more badges for me" Dino slyly marked. Gokudera lit a cigarette in his mouth and glared ahead through the trees to the barely-visible side of the slope.
Stay alive, 10th! He thought with great determination. No matter what, I won't give up until you're found!
"By the way" Mario began, "where is that violent boy with the evil eyes at? Isn't he going to help?"
"You mean Hibari-san?" Yamamoto asked. "I don't think he wants to help that bad..."
"What!?" The rescue leader gasped.
"He's not," Yamamoto hesitantly said, pausing to think of the proper wording, "He's not a real sociable guy..."
Up on the balcony, Chrome looked over the frozen lake to the misshapen hillside where Tsuna had disappeared. She was aware but ignorant of Hibari's sudden presence behind her.
"Shouldn't you help?" Hibari asked. Chrome turned her blinded eye to him. "Your boss?" He was staring her down, like he was trying to force something out of her. She knew what his intentions really were, but glaring at her wouldn't make her summon Mukuro so blatantly.
"Shouldn't you?" Chrome rebutted. "He's your boss too."
"No he's not" Hibari said, moving closer. "I have no affiliation with this stupid Mafia business...nor do I have any intention of joining this 'family'. If I want to get involved with the Mafia then I'll make my own." His sternness, and his serious tone, made his aside sound like a threat of war to the Vongola.
"You wouldn't win anyway" Chrome told him. A frozen wind snapped by, then the whiz of steel through the air. Hibari's tonfas were held at bay by Chrome's trident, pointed at his face. "If you fought us, there's no way you'd win..." Hibari glared down at her, murder building at a distance in his eyes.
"Whatever" he said. "Maybe I wouldn't fight with you" he raised up a hand and lowered the spear slowly. "Maybe I'd just do whatever I wanted."
"Then you are in our family" Chrome said. He glanced at her, but only caught the black patch over her eye when he tried to make a threatening stare down. "You are the cloud that drifts as it pleases, and can't be tethered down. You doing whatever you please is your purpose in the family..."
"...and you" Hibari said. "You're the mist, correct?"
"Yes" she answered.
"The deceiver" Hibari said, his words ringing harshly in Chrome's ears. "You are a living, walking lie that takes whatever form it pleases, not caring for anyone and doing wrong things when others aren't looking."
"...no" Chrome softly replied. "I'm the one that can't be caught or seen...the one that no one can predict..." There was a silence. The talk of roles had received a war-like tone. Hibari straightened his spine and tilted back his head, still staring down the girl. Chrome stood still, clutching her spear behind her. Then, she released with one hand. Hibari anticipated a stab but got slapped in the face instead. He was tunned for a moment, the move he didn't see coming at all, from the flustered and tearing girl. "We're all together in this" she sternly said. "We both have our roles to play, but you're to stubborn to acknowledge that!" Hibari took a step back, expecting still another illusionary assault. "Don't talk to me about duty when you're not doing anything at all."
And with her huff she walked off. Right past Hibari and back into the cabin, storming through the halls and making her spear vanish behind her. Hibari stood in silence for a bit, and considered his moves...at last, about a half-hour later, he arrived at the base of the mountain with a shovel draped over his shoulders.
"Hey!" on of the rescue team men shouted to him. "You can't be here! This is a delicate operation that's restricted to civilian-" Hibari gave him a death stare to shut him up.
"I'm here to help" Hibari growled. "Not because I have to, but because I want to..." So he walked off, through the taped boundaries and onto the lumpy snow-covered mountain base where he started digging hastily.
If anyone's going to kill you Hinari internally muttered, it will be me for inadvertently thrusting me into this stupid, mixed-up Mafia world of yours!
Down in the icy cavern, Tsuna and Kyoko stayed huddled together against the rock for warmth. Tsuna kept his own back against the rock, which was still warmer than ice and snow, and Kyoko sat just in front of him, both of them staring grimly ahead at the motionless snow wall.
"Is it getting colder?" Kyoko asked softly.
"I don't think so" Tsuna replied. "In fact, I'm getting warm." His brow was getting moist and his eyes were getting a bit heavy, but he didn't see it as anything to worry about.
"NO!" Kyoko suddenly shouted. The sound reverberated on the walls and jolted Tsuna's head back against the rock. Now he was cold with head trauma again. "You may be getting hypothermia!"
"Gack!" Tsuna gasped. "Wh-wh-what do I do!?"
"Just stay calm!" Kyoko said urgently.
"OKAY!" Tsuna squealed. He didn't want to admit it, but Kyoko wasn't good at calming someone down in a situation like this. Then again, the only person she ever had to worry about like this lately was her own brother, and he didn't know the meaning of the word 'calm'. Kyoko decided to help more by feeling Tsuna's head.
"Wow" she remarked. "You're really warm, Tsuna-kun."
"I know" he replied. "I think the cramped space is helping with that. Are you okay Kyoko-chan? You're not numb are you?" She shook her head.
"I'm fine" she said with a smile. It was very feint, with little light to show any detailed features between either of them. "You coat's keeping me warm."
"Glad I could help" Tsuna said. She pulled his coat over her shoulders more and leaned against him. He was warm even through his shirt, so she snuggled in closer. Tsuna was stunned, his spiky hair standing on end.
EEK! Tsuna thought. What's she doing!?
"I'm glad you're here, Tsuna-kun" she said in the darkness. Tsuna snapped back and looked down at her, keeping his hands away from her. "I wouldn't be able to survive this without you..." Tsuna felt surprised. He never expected Kyoko to say that of him, or even anyone outside of his Mafia family. Tsuna's hands began moving on their own, closing slowly around Kyoko's back and cradling her closer.
"I'm glad I'm here too..." Tsuna said. Now they were both warm, even with the several feet of ice and snow around them, and although they both eared for their lives they seemed to be happy.
"Whatever you do" Kyoko said, "don't fall asleep."
"Why not?" Tsuna said very tiredly.
"You could freeze" she explained. "If you stay awake you body will generate more heat and you won't get frostbite on your hands and feet..." Her calm demeanor towards life-threatening matters made Tsuna question himself.
"That's good to know" he said nervously, now attentive and completely awake, lest his hands and feet fall off from the cold...
"GYUHAHAHAH!" Lambo shrieked with laughter. He ran all throughout the cabin, running in and out of rooms like the manic little run away bull he was. "Tsuuunaaa-kun!" he called. "Come on out now! Lambo wants a turn to hide!" He ran downstairs and circled around the chair that sobbing Haru sat in, her face in her hands. "Haru-chaaan! Where's Tsuna-kun?"
Haru quit sobbing a bit and wiped her eyes. She caught the cowboy as he circled around her chair again and set him on her lap. "Tsuna-san and Kyoko-chan are...missing" she explained. Lambo innocently picked his nose in response. "They aren't here anymore...and they may not come back...all we can do is hope for the best while everyone else tries to find them..."
"Well they won't" Lambo brashly said, upsetting Haru. "Tsuna-san is really good at hide-and-seek. I bet Kyoko-chan is out looking for him too, but she just got lost...
"Lambo..." Haru began, her voice quivering severely. "Maybe you should play outside for a bit." She set him down and trailed back off to tears. Lambo put on his little scarf and went outside as per Haru's instruction, then had a rare moment of deep insight.
"Hmm...if Lambo-san right now can't find Tsuna, maybe Lambo-san from the future already knows where he is! Yeah!" And to his flawed idea, Lambo ran off guffawing down the path, searching his artillery afro for his bazooka so he could find Tsuna with his future self's knowledge.