Ritsu: SURPRISE, DOUBLE UPDATE!

No Enma for a while. This chapter should satisfy some of the urges of you Tomuro shippers. Oh, and we're really close to 100 reviews. Wowzers…

I still haven't decided on what to do as a celebration upon reaching 100 reviews.

Chapter warnings: Jumps a lot between POVs. Possible feels overloads for some of you. Mukuro's mind.

Review answering taimu~

nanahikari2000: We just need to get past this super angsty arc and things will get all fluffy and cute! D: I swear! Pffft…. I'm imagining lil' Kufu-Mukuro scratching Daemon's face off in their battle. Psssh…

That was my train of thought at that part. While I do actually like Daemon, I… can sympathize with his loss, but not with his actions. To me, it feels like he really does act and think he is justified when in truth he's not. XD Oh dear me… I did not expect to get quite such a reaction either, so we both got the unexpected!

HEY, GUESS WHAT?! DOUBLE UPDATE, BISH. AND THE ACTUAL CHAPTER IS OVER 2K WORDS! WOO!

Ciao- No wait uhh… Hola- no, wrong language. Crap, I haven't studied Italian in almost four years…

Poll standings:

Sky: 9 (I think..)

Lightning: 5

Mist: 3

Sun: 1

And one vote for me picking the flame.

Notice: I'll be closing the poll on the first of February.


Mukuro felt confused.

One moment he had been lost in a dream, the next he was surrounded by darkness.

And then, a sob caught his attention. And another.

And another.

One after the other, the sobs continued on, occasionally growing in volume. But he couldn't see anything. It was so incredibly dark. It felt like he would be swallowed whole if he remained there. And so he put one foot in front of the other and walked.

He wasn't sure if he was going towards the cries or away from them, but he kept walking. Although the darkness seemed endless it felt stifling. Like the tank. The darkness far too eerily reminded him of how utterly suffocating it had been the first few days.

But then… Tomo had saved him, as much as he hated to admit it.

Eventually, he had found Chrome, of course. And while she provided him with the ability to exist outside of that tank, he had sought her out, and not the other way around. He had saved her.

Tomo was the only one who wholeheartedly had saved him, without hesitation, without reward.

He liked that about her.

Tomo could be naïve, but he found something about her ability to show that sort of kindness to others admirable. She never asked for anything in return.

So when the sobs grew in volume and his gaze landed upon a small form up ahead, Mukuro froze. Her hands and legs were constricted with snakes, nastily hissing every time a sob wrecked her body. She almost seemed thinner, though Mukuro knew such a thing was impossible. Despite the inability to move her body fully, she had curled herself into a ball, leaving only her back visible to Mukuro.

His right arm raised itself, his hand reaching out towards her before hesitation struck him, leaving his hand awkwardly in the air.

Tomo was crying.

Mukuro had never seen her cry before. At least, not like this. Not in this heartbreaking way. She looked so fragile, so small and helpless.

And it irked him.

He found that he hated it.

But while she looked like she was so incredibly close, she was still so very far away.

His legs began moving of their own accord.

She had saved him.

She had saved him.

Not once.

Not twice.

No, she has saved him so many many times he couldn't even come up with a number.

Every time he saw her, he felt so safe. So free.

She saved him, just by existing. Just by speaking to him. She was the only one visiting him. The only one capable.

And while he had protected her several times, he had never saved her.

Mukuro had never once managed to actually save her.

He had driven off the illusionist, but now she was in his grasp. He had protected her, but he hadn't saved her.

He'd never told her of his gratitude. He'd never even shown her how grateful he was. He couldn't. His pride wouldn't allow him.

But if he could just save her- just once then maybe-

I can't.

Only through Chrome-who was missing and beyond his reach- could he unleash most of his power, but even then he wouldn't be-

-he wouldn't be strong enough.

His feet halted.

As he stood mere inches from Tomo's crying form, he found himself unable to move any further. Something held him back.

His pride?

There was simply no way he wasn't strong enough-

His instincts?

But why was he so adamant about saving her-

My feelings?

No.

That couldn't be it.

It wasn't it.

It couldn't be.

It couldn't.

Why was he suddenly feeling so scared?

He found himself fearful.

Fearful of his own feelings.

He cared.

He cared.

He didn't like caring.

He didn't like becoming attached to others.

-because then they could be taken away.

Why hadn't he noticed?

Why hadn't he realized?

-but he had known for a long time.

For the first time in years, Mukuro's hands trembled.

With anger, with fear-

-his pride had never allowed him to admit it.

Mukuro really hated it when she cried, he decided.

And maybe, just maybe… he could throw away his pride for just one moment-because wasn't she worth that much?-if it would let him take away her tears.

Maybe, for just a moment, he would allow himself to acknowledge the bond between them.

-because after all, she was his most precious treasure, pride be damned.


As Mukuro watched the darkness fade away, and Tomo with it, he closed his eyes.

He needed to focus.

He had to find her.

Something had brought that sight to him.

And that something was going to lead him to her.

And so he concentrated, fueling his resolve with his emotions and not with his pride. That faint presence of hers he had been able to sense ever since her capture became his one goal. She was a spirit.

She was dead.

But she could still feel pain.

Her mind could still break.

She could still die.

And the possibilities of her doing so seemed to grow greater. Mukuro didn't like it. She still… had to keep her promise to him.

He lost count of the hours it had taken him to locate her. It didn't matter to him how long it took, anyway. She mattered, he did not.

He was strong.

Strong enough to survive on his own.

-or was he?

She was weak.

But not weak.

And he had found her.

But he was still so very unsure of how, just how, to save her.

Kufu was useless in this instance.

He could not communicate with Ken nor Chikusa as Chrome was out of his reach.

The only one he could contact was-

His eyes narrowed.

-and he wondered if his pride would ever recover.


"… Sawada Tsunayoshi."

It was strange.

Tsuna expected to feel dread upon spotting the familiar illusionist.

To feel shame and guilt for letting Chrome get kidnapped.

But once he met the steady gaze of Mukuro, he found himself feeling shocked instead. Something about Mukuro's gaze seemed so incredibly out of character for him. The determination in those heterochromatic eyes were not that of a man wanting to destroy the mafia, but that of a man wanting to protect something.

"M-Mukuro..?" he stuttered out hesitantly, feeling oddly awkward all of a sudden. The illusionist narrowed his eyes slightly, a somewhat pained look crossing his face.

Why… why does the atmosphere feel so… sad?

"There is someplace you- … I need you to go."

Mukuro was asking him to do something for him.

Tsuna's eyes widened.

Mukuro who wanted to possess him and use him to overthrow the mafia world, wanted him, dame-Tsuna, to do him a favor. Tsuna wanted to refuse. He knew he should've. Mukuro was, after all, technically out to harm him.

But when he met that gaze of Mukuro's again, he found himself incapable of saying no.

"W-where is it..?"


Reborn remained silent on Tsuna's shoulder as the Vongola Decimo fueled himself forward even faster, his bright orange sky flames propelling him through the sky of Namimori. When Tsuna had awoken from his strange dream, the young hitman had asked him where he was off to in such a hurry.

When Tsuna had told him Mukuro had asked him for a favor, the fedora wearing baby had simply jumped onto his shoulder without another word.

Reborn knew Mukuro was not the sort of person to ask for favors. For him to have done so, it meant it was important.

The inheritance ceremony had been an utter fiasco, but now they had hope. The Vongola Gear gave them hope. Tsuna should have been resting. They were going to leave to pursue Shimon the next morning, after all, but Reborn would allow Tsuna's disobedience just this once.

Because he had a feeling the illusionist would come after him to kill him if he didn't, and while Reborn knew he could defeat Mukuro, it would not be beneficial for Vongola to lose one of their mist guardians. Especially not at such a crucial time.

But it frustrated Reborn that he couldn't think of just what it was that Mukuro would want Tsuna to do.

'He wanted me to go somewhere', Tsuna had explained briefly, but why did Mukuro want Tsuna to do so?

Even Tsuna didn't know.

And if there was something Reborn hated, it was the unknown.


Mukuro surrounded himself with the field he'd so often speak to Tomo in. It seemed to soothe his exhaustion, even if just a little.

"Humans can't see the dead…" he muttered, his head tilted back, eyes scanning the starlit sky. [1]

"And while Sawada is no normal human… he is still a human. So just this once…"

He raised his arm, reaching up towards the sky as if the grab it.

"… I'll make you human, as well."

As the last of his mist flames trailed off in the wind, having only one goal in mind, Mukuro allowed himself to smile a small but genuine smile.

Just this once…

-before he let his pride rule him again.


Tsuna truly hadn't known what to expect when he reached the location Mukuro had told him to go to. He'd considered many possibilities on the way, but none seemed plausible when he gave them more thought.

So when he'd blasted through the wall, shattering the illusion that Mukuro had warned him about, he found himself awkwardly stuttering out nonsense as he laid his eyes upon a girl.

She looked a bit older than him, but she looked incredibly worn out and frightened. The moment she'd met his gaze she threw herself backwards with a gasp, tripping over her own legs as if she wasn't sure how to move them.

"A-ah… I'm not gonna hurt you!" he spoke quickly, raising his hands in surrender. A hesitant smile slipped onto his lips in an attempt to calm her, but he found that it did little to soothe her fear.

"H-How- w-why-?!"

Tsuna was speechless. Unbeknownst to him, Tomo was not so much scared as she was shocked he could see her. And so Tsuna slowly crouched down hands still raised.

"Ah… Uhhm… M-Mukuro… told me to come here… h-he said there was… there was something I had… I had to do… b-but I wasn't supposed to tell you that-" as Tsuna realized his blunder, his face went pale.

Crap!

When the girl scooted closer to him and let out a soft chuckle, though hesitant, Tsuna found that perhaps getting possibly maimed by Mukuro wasn't all bad.

"What is your relationship with Mukuro?"

Reborn had finally spoken.

Tsuna had been waiting for the baby hitman to say something, worried about what would happen. When the girl simply sent the hitman a tired smile, Tsuna felt the worry evaporate.

She was a good person.

He was sure of it.

"I'm his friend. Or he's my friend anyway. I doubt he'd ever admit such a relationship exists between us, however," was the girl's swift reply. Her voice occasionally cracked and she looked ready to faint, however, so while he knew Reborn would want to ask her more questions he sent the hitman a pleading look.

Later.

And for the second time that night, Reborn allowed Tsuna to have his way, quietly watching the now sleeping girl on Tsuna's back.

"Tsuna."

"What… What is it?"

"Mukuro wouldn't soil his pride for just anyone."

"… I know."

"Lose her, and you'll lose a guardian."

"… I know…"

"She should stay with your mother for now."

"Yeah… Mukuro… I… I think he wants that too."

"But be wary. It is possible he is capable of possessing her. If that is the case, no matter how good a person you may think she is, she can become a threat."

"… He's not."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because when he asked me to go there, he looked like he was in pain. Like he wanted to go there so badly himself, but he couldn't… He looked really exhausted, Reborn. I think he used all of his strength trying to save her…"

"…"

Neither of the two missed the small smile that fluttered onto Tomo's lips, and Tsuna found that he couldn't keep one off of his own lips, either.


Ritsu: So, I'm gonna explain some things. I don't usually explain much, cause I like to see how you interpret it, but there are some important things here that I believe needs to be explained.

Firstly, this one might be obvious, it might not, but I want to clarify this because it'll be important in future chapters. ESPECIALLY in The Spirit of Kokuyo.

[1] "Humans can't see the dead…" Mukuro says. As we all know, Mukuro can see Tomo. This is basically meant to show that Mukuro… he doesn't really consider himself human. And that will play an important part later on.

Now then, the other explanation…

Mukuro's first POV might be really confusing. Don't worry if you don't understand it all, because that's why I'm here.

Mukuro is fighting a war with himself. More specifically, he's battling his pride. Mukuro isn't stupid. He knows that he cares for others, and Tomo especially so, but it's his pride that keeps him from truly accepting that. And this chapter is (like most of my Mukuro focused chapters) meant to humanize Mukuro. Show that while his pride is a big part of him, he is capable of letting it go for the sake of Tomo.

Another quick explanation;

Mukuro used his flames make Tomo 'human'. If he can create illusionary organs for Chrome that function like real ones, I think it's pretty darn possible to give a spirit a physical form. Real illusions are all "Make chicks human- LIKE A BAWS".

Now, the Tomuro is especially strong, and it's only getting stronger, which might seem odd as this IS the story where Toen is the main pairing, however… I already have the point planned where Enma and Tomo's relationship deepens. And it's not too far off, actually. And I will actually be involving more characters now, as I've been neglecting most of Shimon up until now. But next chapter… Vongola introductions, mwahah!