Getting to Know Each Other (5)

I don't own KHR.

"Huh? What did you say?" Matteo asked as he tilted his head up towards Kyoya while still hugging the daylights out of him. Mukuro wasn't able to make out what Kyoya had muttered either but he honestly couldn't care less. Chrome and Tsuna were in the well and while he definitely wasn't a medical expert, he could imagine that swimming in freezing water for a long time was not a good thing.

Time was of the essence here, though now that he thought about it...

"Never mind about him, why are you here?!" Mukuro exclaimed as he finished standing up, ignoring how his body was aching painfully. "I know you helped put them in the well house, so why are now suddenly betraying your friends?!"

It didn't make sense, Matteo seemed to be very loyal to Gabe and Nico back at the cafeteria so what happened between then and now? Did Matteo just get a sudden change of heart or was he trying to lure him or Kyoya into a trap?

Not that it really mattered, Mukuro was going to go down to the well house in any case, he just wanted to be prepared in case Gabe and his goons were planning to ambush him or something like that. And for all he knew, maybe Matteo was lying about them falling into the well too, but somehow, Mukuro doubted that. He would like to mentally contact Chrome but if she really was in the well with Tsuna, then he didn't want to distract her from surviving until he got there.

"I thought they were only going to be in the well house for a few hours at the most, I didn't think they would actually fall in!" Matteo confessed, his face torned with guilt. "Gabe and Nico were really pissed off when you beat us up instead of accepting our offer to join forces with you to beat up Kyoya, especially Gabe. They...I mean we, wanted to get back at both you and Kyoya by trapping them in the well house but when they fell in...Gabe just said that they would be fine and that we couldn't back down now."

As Mukuro stood there, shocked at Gabe's stupidity and ruthlessness, Matteo turned his head to face him, giving Mukuro a clear view of his teary brown eyes.

"I'm sorry!" Matteo cried, his voice full of guilt and desperation. "I felt that putting them in there was going too far, especially Chrome, but I didn't speak up, I...I was afraid. I was alone until I met them and...I didn't want to go back to that again. But...but I'm even more afraid that they're actually gonna die and I don't want that! I really don't! Please, I get that you don't have any reason to trust me, but you have to believe me! You two are the only ones that can save your friends, I know it! So you two can bite me to death for all I care, just go down there and save them!"

For a brief second, Mukuro stared at Matteo's face but for the life of him, he couldn't detect any signs of deceit or dishonesty. Matteo was telling the truth...including when he admitted that he was afraid of being alone.

Despite himself, Mukuro actually felt some empathy for Matteo.

"Get off me," Kyoya suddenly said as he slapped Matteo in the face with a tonfa before Matteo had a chance to let go. Matteo let out a cry of pain as he fell to the ground with a small crash while Kyoya walked away. "I will decide later if I will bite you to death or not."

"Wait, what?" Matteo asked, sounding bewildered as he rubbed his newly bruised cheek. Mukuro was honestly bewildered too since Kyoya was walking in the opposite direction of the front door but he didn't ponder on the skylark's actions since now that he had information, he was going to leave. He just needed his trident...

And that was when Mukuro realized that Kyoya was heading right for his weapon.

"Hey-" Mukuro started to say in a threatening voice as he followed Kyoya, not at all willing to deal with the stubborn and selfrighteous skylark right now.

"Because right now," Kyoya continued like he couldn't hear Mukuro as he reached down and picked up Mukuro's trident. Then, before Mukuro could offer any sort of protest, Kyoya swiftly turned around and held out the trident to the eight-year-old boy. "We have to save Tsuna and Chrome."

Mukuro's heterchromatic eyes widened in surprise as Kyoya continued to silently hold the trident out towards him. He took a brief second to read Kyoya's face but all he could find was determination as well as perhaps...a bit of guilt.

And despite being behind the brutal end of Kyoya's tonfas just a few mintues ago...Mukuro couldn't find any reason to distrust him.

"Mufufu, that we do," Mukuro stated with a bloodthirsty smirk as he accepted his weapon. Kyoya gave him a bloodthirsty smirk of his own before he moved past Mukuro.

"Oh, and you should know, it's snowing again and Gabe and Nico are still down there, building a snow wall before pouring water on top of it to keep you guys out," Matteo informed them as he got to his knees. "I managed to get away by saying that I had to go to the bathroom."

"Then we will just have to bite them to death," Kyoya simply said as he kept on walking swiftly down the hall, Mukuro not far behind him. They kept on quickly walking towards the front door in determined silence, leaving Matteo behind without looking back or a backwards wave. For a moment Mukuro wondered why they weren't running but as soon as he thought that Kyoya started running. Despite his aching chest, head, and the other parts of his body that Kyoya managed to hit yesterday, Mukuro quickly followed suit.

"So how did you find out? Did you look out through one of the windows facing the backyard or something?" Kyoya suddenly asked him when they reached the front door. It admittedly took Mukuro a second or two to figure out what he was talking about.

"...She...she told me. We...have telepathy. Only with each other, and no, I don't know why so don't ask," Mukuro reluctantly admitted as Kyoya opened the front door, revealing that it really was snowing again. Mukuro wasn't sure if telling Kyoya the truth was a good idea or not but since Kyoya now knew about the illusions, there wasn't much point in keeping that part secret too. At least this way, Kyoya wouldn't have any reason to suspect him (at this critical moment anyway).

There was also the fact that if-when they get Chrome and Tsuna out of this, then Kyoya would know that Chrome would be able to contact Mukuro at just about any moment.

"...Really?" Kyoya asked as he turned to look at Mukuro's face with a surprised expression. "Wait if that's the case, can't you contact her now and tell her that we're coming?"

"Can't, it's a new ability for both of us and I'm afraid that I will just distract her too much," Mukuro answered as he moved past Kyoya and ran without hesitation into the snow. Kyoya just grunted as he ran after him, and after a few seconds, passed him as well.

Mukuro frowned as he tried to get in front of Kyoya again despite Kyoya's now decent lead on him. Sure, Mukuro might have an aching and sore body, but he did severely scratch Kyoya's back yesterday. And not only that, Kyoya just wasted a lot of energy on biting him to death when he could have been biting Gabe and Nico to death.

Just how strong was the skylark?!

"There they are," Kyoya nearly growled. Brought out of his thoughts, Mukuro looked up and saw that at the end of the backyard, were Gabe and Nico. They were quickly building the wall that Matteo had warned them about though it looked like they were nowhere near finished.

Not that it mattered either way, because there was no way a wall made out of snow and ice was going to stop him or Kyoya from getting to Chrome and Tsuna.

"Let's finish them in one hit, we don't have time to play skylark," Mukuro said he tightened his hold on his weapon. Back at the cafeteria, he hadn't bothered to use his illusions on the goons, since he felt that they weren't worth that much trouble.

He wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"Tch, don't tell me what to do pineapple," Kyoya shot back even though he was clearly bracing his tonfas for impact. They were now only several feet away from Gabe and Nico, both of whom were still clueless to their upcoming fate as they continued building their wall.

"How much higher should we make it Gabe?" Mukuro heard Nico ask as he placed another huge pile of snow over the wall before patting it down.

"Until we can't see the door anymore," Gabe replied, his back still to them. Then he started to turn around. "What's taking Matteo so-on of a bi-!"

But Gabe had noticed them too late, for Kyoya was already right in his face. With a speed reminding Mukuro of a starving tiger, Kyoya pulled his tonfa back before slamming right into Gabe's face. There was a honestly satisfying crack before Gabe was sent flying right onto the wooden door, causing it to crack beneath the little thug-wannabe.

"GA-!" Nico started to cry out in alarm before Mukuro reached him and placed the tip of his trident on the goon-wannabe's throat. Mukuro allowed him to relish the blatant terror in Nico's brown eyes for a brief milisecond with a cold smirk before he quickly conquered up a lava geyser.

Unlike the time with Kyoya, this lava geyser hit his target head on. Nico instantly screamed bloody murder, and didn't stop until the illusion was over. When Mukuro was able to see his target again, Nico wavered on his feet briefly before his eyes rolled upside his head and he crumpled to the ground.

Satisfied that Nico wasn't going to get up any time soon, Mukuro turned around just in time to see Kyoya slam the door wide open, an unconscious and bloody Gabe having been thrown to the side. As Kyoya walked right in with Mukuro right behind him, Mukuro took a deep breath.

Now for the actual rescuing...he just hoped that they weren't too late.

KHR

Chrome wasn't going to able to hold on much longer. If the mattress beneath them frequently fading away before suddenly becoming solid again wasn't a dead giveaway, then Chrome's pale face was. Tsuna bit his lip as he felt like Chrome's face was getting paler by the second. If that wasn't worryingly enough, her breathing was also laboured and she was shivering.

Not that he wasn't shivering too, but he was pretty sure she was shivering more than him. Tsuna gave his new friend an extra squeeze, one that he hoped was full of comfort and warmth.

"Kyoya...Mukuro...please hurry," Tsuna muttered with slightly chattering teeth. Then suddenly, there was a loud slamming noise which was accompanied by grayish light that didn't come from the flashlight. Tsuna looked up, renewed hope lifting up his heart and spirit.

Could it be?

"Tsuna! Chrome! Can you hear me?!" Tsuna heard his brother call out right as he saw Kyoya's head appear over the well. Tsuna almost started to cry in relief, but stopped himself because they didn't have the time to deal with his tears.

"Yes Kyoya! We're here, we down here!" Tsuna exclaimed as he held up the flashlight and waved the bright stream of light around.

"Oh thank goodness, we made it in time," a familiar voice said loudly. Not even a second later, Mukuro's head appeared right beside Kyoya's.

"M-Mukuro...sama," Chrome whispered, sounding both tired and relieved. Tsuna couldn't help but to smile himself, just glad that Kyoya and Mukuro had made it in time.

He was so glad in fact that he wasn't even questioning that Kyoya and Mukuro were clearly working together.

"Chrome, Tsuna are you two alright?!" Mukuro added with concern in his voice.

"For now, but only because Chrome had us land on a mattress illusion! But she's not gonna be able to keep it up for much longer! So please hurry, there's water right underneath the mattress!" Tsuna explained as he glanced down at Chrome, whose eye was barely cracked open as her breaths got even heavier.

They were almost out of time.

"Oh...okay, don't worry, we're gonna get you out of there, just hang on!" Mukuro exclaimed as he and Kyoya faced each other, probably to quickly discuss the best plan of action. Tsuna gulped he looked back down at Chrome, since he had looked back up when Mukuro replied to them.

"You hear that Chrome? You just need to keep the illusion up for one more minute, okay? Then you can sleep for as long as you want," Tsuna promised as he continued to hold Chrome against his chest.

She didn't answer him, but she did opened her purple eye a bit more so Tsuna knew that she had heard him.

Then something suddenly appeared out of the corner of his eye, causing Tsuna to turn his head. There was now a ladder leaning against the wall of the well, starting from the mattress all the way to the top of the well. Before Tsuna could wonder how he was going to get Chrome up the ladder (because there was no way she had the strength to climb it herself), Kyoya jumped over the side of the broken well and slid all the way down on the ladder.

"Kyoya," Tsuna nearly whimpered in relief when Kyoya turned around to face him. "I knew you come."

"...Always the faithful and loyal one aren't you?" Kyoya replied with a smile that seemed almost sad and kind of regretful. But before Tsuna could ponder anymore on it, Kyoya crossed the short distance between them and picked up Chrome.

"Quickly, go climb the ladder, we'll be right behind you," Kyoya ordered as he laid Chrome's body over his shoulder. Knowing that time was of the essence, Tsuna hurried to the ladder (after giving the flashlight to Kyoya) and quickly started to climb it.

"Okay Chrome, you can rest now, you did good," Tsuna heard Kyoya below him say when he was partway up the ladder. Tsuna stopped and looked down and saw that the mattress was now completely gone, and that both Kyoya and Chrome were on the ladder, safe from the water below them.

Just looking at the uninviting water was enough to make Tsuna shiver. Beyond grateful that he and Chrome weren't in that frigid-looking water right now, Tsuna looked back up and started climbing again. Praying that he wouldn't have a sudden clumsy attack, Tsuna continued to climb and didn't stop until he reached the top.

"Here, grab my hand Tsuna," Mukuro told him as he reached out his hand, his face a mixture of both calm and nervous anticipation. Tsuna accepted Mukuro's hand without hesistation and it only took Mukuro a moment to pull him out of the broken-down well and safely onto the ground behind him.

"They didn't hit you anywhere other than your cheek now did they?" Mukuro asked as his eyes glanced up and down Tsuna's body, his voice much like the calm before the storm.

"No, they didn't," Tsuna answered with a shake of his head as he touched his brusied cheek, as he eyed the dried bloody wound on Mukuro's head. Mukuro clearly got hurt from someone but here he was, asking about Tsuna's possible injuries. "And my cheek doesn't hurt anymore either. But your head-"

"Oh...don't worry, I'm fine," Mukuro brushed him off while looking both flustered and relieved. He then turned his head, presumably to check if Kyoya and Chrome had made it to the top yet, when Tsuna realized that he had something else to say.

"Thank you!" Tsuna exclaimed as he bowed all the way down to his waist. When Mukuro didn't reply, he simply continued. "Thank you so much for helping Kyoya and for saving both of us! And I think that it's really cool that you can make illusions! I'm really thankful that you used your illusions to save not only Chrome, but me too! So thank you!"

When Mukuro still didn't reply after a few seconds, Tsuna looked up, worried that he had somehow crossed the line. Wait, was Chrome not supposed to tell him that she and Mukuro were able to make illusions?! Did he just made Mukuro angry, not only at him but also at Chrome?!

Then Tsuna got a good look at Mukuro. Mukuro's face was indeed red, but it wasn't from anger.

No, it was clearly from pure embarrassment.

"Aahh...you're welcome," Mukuro replied hurriedly before he swiftly turned his attention back to the well, still blushing furiously. Recalling how his first impression of Mukuro was that he was a scary kid with cool eyes, Tsuna smiled.

Mukuro really wasn't that bad or scary after all.

"Chrome!" Mukuro then exclaimed, his tone now full of concern and worry as he bent over the collasped well. A long second later, Mukuro pulled out a very unconscious Chrome.

"Chrome, ooh..." Tsuna said, concerned as well as he stepped out of the way so that Mukuro could back away from the well with Chrome in his arms. He bit his lip as he looked at his new friend, who looked somehow much paler than she did back in the well. "I knew...she really pushed herself to keep us afloat...I couldn't do anything other than to hold her...I'm sorry."

"Don't blame yourself." Tsuna turned his head just in time to see Kyoya pull himself out of the well. "Blame Gabe and Nico who left you down there."

"...Not Matteo?" Tsuna asked with a tilt of his head as Kyoya picked himself up, standing straight and tall. To anyone else, Tsuna could imagine that they would think that he wasn't tired at all but not him. He could tell how tired Kyoya really was with how his breaths were a bit laboured and how stiff his body was. But despite that, Kyoya still cared enough to make sure that the blame was not Tsuna's shoulders. Not to mention that Kyoya had to have pushed himself in order to save him and Chrome.

Tsuna really did love and appreciate his brother.

"...He's the reason we knew that you two were in the well," Kyoya answered as he took a step forward and rubbed his hand through Tsuna's unruly hair.

"He...he told you?" Tsuna asked, truly surprised.

"Yeah, and he was all desperate too," Mukuro added as he gently shifted Chrome into a better and probably more comfortable position. "He said that he didn't even cared if he got bitten to death."

Tsuna's eyes widened at that, though they quickly went back to normal size when he recalled how worried Matteo sounded after he and Chrome had fallen into the well.

...It looked like he needed to thank Matteo too.

"She's probably alright," Kyoya said when Mukuro gazed at Chrome worryingly. "She just needs a lot of rest."

"Yeah, I guess you're right...," Mukuro sighed as he turned around and started walking out of the well house.

"Guess? Tch, I am right," Kyoya shot back though his voice was laced with little to no malice, especially compared to yesterday.

"Speaking of rest, you definitely need some too, like as soon as we get back inside," Tsuna quickly intervened, though he was glad that Kyoya and Mukuro were more or less getting along.

"...I wasn't done with my patrol but I guess I can do a more detailed one later," Kyoya replied as he walked towards the open doorway, with Tsuna quickly following suit. However, before Tsuna could rejoice, Kyoya continued talking.

"There is something I need to do first...actually two things. And one of them concerns you pineapple." Mukuro, who was outside by this point, turned around with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh? And what could this be skylark?" Mukuro asked while still carrying Chrome gently and carefully in the princess carry. Briefly wondering where Kyoya's new nickname came from, Tsuna turned to face Kyoya, who had stopped at the doorway.

"...Tsuna, how do you feel about lifting the rule that Mukuro isn't allowed anywhere near us?"

"You...you mean?" Tsuna gasped in both surprise and growing delight. When Kyoya just slightly smiled at him, Tsuna started grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes! Yes, I support this 100 percent!" Tsuna exclaimed, feeling truly happy and excited because he had wondered if Kyoya and Mukuro working together was just a one time thing or not. But now that he knew that it wasn't, and that Mukuro really was someone he could trust and depend on...

He really wanted to become friends with Mukuro!

And...perhaps...eventually become brothers?

"Alright, it's settled then, you can be around us now, though keep in mind that I will keep my eye on you," Kyoya declared as he faced Mukuro.

"...I guess I can live with that," Mukuro replied as a small, but geniune smile appeared on his face. "Just curious though, what's the second thing you need to do?"

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" Kyoya asked with a bloodthristy smirk as he looked around him. Tsuna did the same and noticed Gabe and Nico for the first time, dead to the world as they laid in the snow sporting very fresh injuries.

"We have to take out the trash."

Then Kyoya proceeded to throw Gabe and Nico into the well. After Mukuro kind of reluctantly conquered up a mattress illusion at the bottom of the well of course.

Don't worry, Kyoya and Mukuro did come to get Gabe and Nico after a few hours...if any of you were worried about that.

So what did you think? Please tell me your thoughts in a review and I will update shortly! Until then, have a great Thanksgiving or have a great day/night!