Confessions of a Gold-Digger

#25. Chrome Rescues My Sexy Ass

"Could you blackmail Justin Bieber to marry me?" I asked the Vongola Nono.

"Yes, I can," Nono said without missing a beat. The man was all tied up in chains but damn, he still looked classy. I bet he was extremely handsome when he was old… except that moustache. Ugh.

"Ryan Reynolds? Brad Pitt?" I flipped a celebrity magazine and said the name of every superstar that came up. "Taylor Swift? Rihanna? Tom Cruise? James Bond?"

"I'm afraid, my dear, James Bond is a fictional character," the old man said. The man looked done. I mean, his son had kidnapped him and tied him up. Sucks to be him– but hey, he was spending some quality time with the most beautiful girl in the world.

"So are you," I said and rolled my eyes.

"My dear," Nono tried to sit up straight but winced from the pain, "as much as I enjoy hearing about your gold-digging fantasies, why are you here?"

"You're the king and I need you to threaten me some dough boys. It's pretty simple-" I tried to look away from his intense gaze.

"You aren't here to discuss potential husbands. My Hyper Intuition is telling me you have a secret agenda," Nono said, studying me, "Let's start with this– who are you?"

"Well, that's a very philosophical question–" Nono's stern gaze sobered me. "I'm Elena. You're charming son kidnapped me because I know he's adopted. Don't ask me how do I know this. It's a long story. Literally. The manga was like 300 chapters long. OMG."

"Elena.. Why does that name sound familiar?" Nono was lost in thought and then his eyes widened slightly with realisation. "You are Tsunayoshi's crazy friend. Reborn recommended that you should be sent to a mental asylum."

"Reborn is a dick with a gun," that bastard was Ruining my rep, "I'm actually pretty awesome, as you can see. Beautiful, intelligent and funny? I have so many gifts to offer."

Nono was making the face that Tsuna made when I accidentally slam my head against poles. They are related, afterall!

"I've read reports about you," Nono said, assessing me, "Who is your Sky? Your flames are permanently claimed and that is very rare.

"What is this? An interrogation?" I asked but wilted under his gaze. "Tsuna's my Sky. Duh. I think his flames got jealous of the fact that I was hanging out with Xanxus' flames. Sky flames are territorial like that."

"Tsunayoshi?" Nono stiffened and all of a sudden, he went full-blown calculative on me. I was not talking to some poor old man anymore. I was talking to the Mafia Boss."I am the Sky of hundreds of Elements but I've only ever permanently claimed one of them. Do you know who?"

"Your life story was not in the manga, dude. How am I supposed to know?" I tried to make the atmosphere light.

"My wife," Nono's gaze softened. "Mila was a women's right activist. I met her when she was running away from the police during a protest. She jumped on my motorcycle and screamed 'drive fucking drive'." His eyes twinkled with love when he said the last three words gently.

"She sounds like a badass," I said. I can imagine being Mila's bestie.

"She was. If she were alive Xanxus would've never done this whole thing. He loved her as she loved him," Nono looked at me and remembered why he was talking about his wife in the first place, "I was territorial and possessive so I claimed her flames permanently on our wedding night. She was about to me a part of my dark world and I couldn't let her walk around without my mark on her."

"Why are you telling me about your sex life?" I made a gagging sound. "Too much info."

"Did you not get the point I was trying to make? Nevermind. It's a matter of time before Tsunayoshi loses his patience with your gold-digging obsession," Nono gave a tired sigh. "What did you want for me?"

"Well, I'm glad we're done with the small talk. I want you to start the Inheritance Ceremony the moment Tsuna wins this mad shit," I said.

"The Inheritance Ceremony?" Nono gave me an odd look. "Why?"

"Let's just say I have an ex-fiance I'm looking for," I winked, "Come on. I'm a main character. I get to have secret backstories that make me look fancy and mysterious."

Mukuro was tied up in some water prison and the Future Arc was fucking huge. Ain't nobody got the time for that. The quicker I meet Daemon Spade, the quicker Mukuro saves the day and gets out of the bloody water prison.

Inheritance Ceremony = Daemon Spade + insanity = Mukuro's body getting stolen + Tsuna saving the day = Vindice letting Mukuro go = Happy family reunion with flowers in the background

See? And Gokudera says I'm bad at Math. Pfft. This plan is rocket science, baby.

"I will not try to reason with you. It never seems to work but what you say makes sense. It's better to start the Inheritance Ceremony as soon as Tsunayoshi is declared as my heir. It gives our enemies a lesser time frame to attack us."

"Great! I told you I was a genius that made great plans! Justin Bieber will be so lucky to marry me!" I clapped my hands. "I'm heading back. We're having pasta tonight and I need to go before Xanxus hogs it all up. No wonder he's so fat."

"Elena-chan?" I jumped when I heard the soft, feminine voice and the pasta spilled all over my bed.

"Not cool, man. Now I'll have to eat pasta off the bed–" I stopped when I noticed Chrome standing near the open window in my hotel room.

She looked terrified of me. She could slice me into a million pieces with that trident she was clutching and she was terrified of me? LOL.

"Elena-chan? Boss and Mukuro-sama asked me to get you home," Chrome said. She looked breathtakingly beautiful in the moonlight. "Mammon is gone so the barriers are broken and you can leave with me."

I hope Mukuro and Chrome reproduce.

"Chrome! My knight-in-shining-armor!" I said happily. "There's no one else I'd rather be rescued by! Did you kick Mammon's ass?"

"Well, Mukuro-sama did most of the work," Chrome blushed with embarrassment, "He was furious about the fact that Mammon compelled you.

"My cute descendant. He shows his love for me by trying to kill people," I smiled, "Can you wait a minute? Let me finish dinner. Also, once this shit is over, we're gonna have some quality girl time."

I picked up the pasta from the bed sheets with my hands and quickly put them in my mouth, chewing as fast as I could. I had pasta sauce all over me but oh, well.

"I'm done. Let's go," I jumped off the bed. I was about to hold her and let her whisk me away but Chrome took two steps back.

"Elena-chan, can you wash your hands first?" Chrome asked politely.

"Tsuna!" I hopped onto his bed the moment Chrome dropped me off to the Sawada residence. My flames shuddered with relief. We were finally near our Sky.

"Elena," Tsuna sounded tired and he rubbed his eyes. I almost bed about waking him up so late. His eyes widened slightly when he saw me clearly and his thumb traced my cheeks. "Elena, you're back."

"Yes!" I said happily. I hugged him and showered his face with kisses. Since it was dark and I couldn't see clearly, I accidentally kissed his lips several times. He stiffened with each touch and I frowned, pulling away. "What's the matter? Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Let's talk somewhere we can't be heard," Tsuna said and got off bed. He walked outside and towards the roof. He didn't look back to see if I was following him. The only time he looked at me was when he helped me up to the roof.

"What's the matter, Tsuna?" I asked. Tsuna never acted so composed and quiet.

"Tomorrow's the last Guardian battle and then there'll be the Sky battle," Tsuna said, his eyes not leaving the stars.

"Don't worry. You're almost as awesome as me. You'll win," I tried to assure him.

"I know I will win," Tsuna's confidence stunned me. "Did he hurt you?" His eyes fixed on me and I could see them glow orange.

"Just a few bruises and burns from an argument we got into. I was mostly trapped in my hotel room," I said. "What's up with you? You're acting OOC."

"Show me the bruises and burns," Tsuna ordered and I did what he asked. His warm hands went over my injured cool skin and the contact made me shudder. Tsuna was healing me with his flames. The pain began to disappear but his eyes didn't leave my injuries.

"They're not as bad as they look," I said shakily.

"I want to kill him," Tsuna's tone was clipped but something told me that he was being honest. "I didn't know I was capable of feeling that way but then I saw you with him. The way he talked about you, the way he treated you… I wanted to burn the world."

"I'd kill for you, too," I said honestly.

"Elena, you don't understand. I'm not the goody-in-two-shoes you think I am. There's this darkness in me and I know that in a few more years," Tsuna stopped touching me, like he was afraid that I would get hurt, "I'll be a monster."

"You'll never be a monster," I said. I tried to hold his face but he moved away.

"I know I will," Tsuna said, looking away. "When he took you away from me, I was enraged. I welcomed the hatred, the anger and the darkness. Every second I wasn't with you, every second you were locked in his cage, I trained harder. I nearly killed Basil six times. I like the power it gives me."

"You're a tenth-generation Mafioso. Being addicted to power is in your blood. You don't have to be some selfless, holy saint. If I get to be greedy, so do you," I said.

"Elena, if I want something I'll snatch it. I didn't give a second thought about permanently claiming your flames. I didn't care that if I was dooming your fate to the Mafia. All I cared about was that you were mine and your flames belonged to me and only me," Tsuna sounded angry with himself.

"I am yours and so are my flames! If you hadn't claimed my flames, I would've still been brainwashed by Mammon!" I snapped. "Tsuna, the fact that you will forever be me Sky makes me happy. It's like I won a million dollar lottery! I won't even be this happy when I kill my first husband and inherit all his money."

Tsuna gave me a tight smile but it fell into a frown.

"Pack your bags," Tsuna sat straight.

"Why? Are we going on a cruise?" I gave him a look. I was tired and I didn't want to move my body.

"I pulled some strings and got you into Venetian Business High School. Remember the rich kid school you wanted to go to? The boys there are a hundred times richer than Hibari. The plane leaves in few hours. That's why I got Chrome to bring you home."

"Wait. What?" I was so shocked that I was about to fall from the roof. "We're already moving to Italy? That didn't happen in the manga–"

"Not we. Just you," Tsuna said. He grabbed my face with his calloused hands. "It'll just be a year. I need to be away from you a bit. I'm too attached to you. I want you to be happy and the only way you'll be happy is by being a successful gold-digger. But, right now, I'm not in a state to even imagine you with other boys. If you're away from me, I'll gradually accept the idea of you being with someone else."

"What are you talk about?" I snapped. This whole thing was scaring me.

"I took away a lot of your choices when I claimed your flames and bound you to the Mafia. If I did the things I wanted to do to you, you'd be even more bound to the Mafia. I want to now give you a fair shot in your own happiness," Tsuna said. "If gold-digging makes you happy–"

"A year? That's a long time. We've known each other just for a year. What if you forget me? What if I'm not important to you anymore?" The thoughts started scaring me. "I don't need to go to VBHS. I still have Hibari to seduce–"

"Hibari's never going to touch you or look at you that way because he's my Cloud. That's why I was okay with you trying to seduce him. He wouldn't ever try anything on his Sky's…" Tsuna didn't finish the sentence. "And I won't forget you. Think of it as a big vacation."

"Are you getting sick of me?" I asked. "You called me fat and ugly that day and I know I can be annoying and careless but–"

"I'll never get sick of you," Tsuna said firmly, "and that scares me."

"Okay," I was too heartbroken to argue. "It'll take me a few minutes to pack up. I want to say goodbyes but I don't want to wake up the kids. Well, there's always video chat."

"I want you to break all kinds of connections with us for the whole year. No phone calls or texts or letters–"

My heart broke with each word.

"I get it!" I said, trying to keep my tears from spilling. I got off the roof and didn't turn back to see Tsuna's expression. If I had turned around, I would've seen Tsuna hurting.

Gokudera was right. Tsuna was finally sick of me being a burden.

Step #27: What will make me happier? Family? Or Money?