An Impromptu Entrance Exam If You Will (2)

I don't own KHR.

For a moment, Takeshi just stared, dumbfounded as Mukuro continued to hold Gabe's knee in place. Both Mukuro and Chrome had done some pretty cool tricks in the last couple of days, but nothing like this. Where had Mukuro come from?

Then Takeshi realized that he didn't care, Mukuro had stopped Gabe from breaking Shigure Kintoki. Mukuro, who was nearly on par with Kyoya when it came to fighting, was here. There was no doubt in Takeshi's mind that he was going to help him get his sword back.

Not to mention, Mukuro looked positively livid.

"You!" Gabe cried as pure hatred and anger replaced his earlier bewilderment. He then opened his mouth but right at that moment, Mukuro tapped his special trident against the chilled ground. Thick vines dotted with sharp thorns then burst out of the ground underneath Gabe's feet. Gabe didn't even have time to scream as the vines lifted him up, trapping him in the middle of the air.

"Gabe!" Brando screamed in alarm, his hold on Takeshi loosening a little. Right as Takeshi noticed this, Gabe, who was bleeding from all the thorns digging into his skin, dropped the sword. Seeing his chance, Takeshi elbowed Brando in the stomach while stomping on Nico's foot. The two boys immediately let go of him as they cried out in pain.

"Mukuro!" Takeshi called out as he took advantage of his freedom to race forward, Shigure Kintoki still falling. "Catch it and throw it to me!"

Mukuro's only response was to raise an eyebrow before catching the bamboo sword with one hand and swiftly tossing it towards Takeshi. The athlete caught the handle of Pops' sword with one hand and while he would love to have a moment to soak in his sudden relief, this wasn't over yet.

"You gonna pay for that you ungrateful cretin!" Brando yelled behind him as Takeshi also heard the sound of running feet. Takeshi just grabbed the handle with both hands and took a deep breath.

"Shinotsuku Ame!" Takeshi yelled as he swung around and charged at both of his opponents. Nico and Brando quickly tried to stop in their tracks when their eyes saw Shigure Kintoki had transformed into a real katana. But their efforts to avoid injury came too late as Takeshi slashed at the ones that kept him away from his sword.

The boys screamed in pain as the blade formed a perfect cross slash. As they tumbled to the ground, Takeshi looked down on them, having stopped charging once he had passed his opponents.

"Why were you so surprised? I never said Shigure Kintoki was a toy," Takeshi said calmly as his grip tightened on Pops' sword. Brando didn't respond since he was completely unconscious and while Nico was, he wasn't that much better as he groaned in pain. While Takeshi had never hurt anyone like this before, he didn't feel guilty. They would live, Takeshi had made sure to use the back of his sword.

He hadn't been that short on mercy.

A whistle then brought his attention away from Nico and Brando.

"I like your sword," Mukuro complimented with a respectful smirk. Takeshi couldn't help but to smirk as well.

"Thanks," Takeshi accepted before he looked up at Gabe's still form. "...Is he still alive?"

"Yeah, the thorns didn't go in that deep and I made sure that they didn't hit any arteries," Mukuro assured him as he looked up at Gabe, a digusted frown replacing his earlier smirk. "Though he is probably going to wish he was dead once Kyoya hears about this, kufufu. Ryohei might want to throw in an extreme punch in too."

Then like a dim light getting brighter, Takeshi recalled what had almost happened. What had been at stake, what he had to do. He looked at Shigure Kintoki, which had transformed back into its bamboo form, and felt his hands shake a bit.

He had almost...He could have lost-

Then Takeshi fell to his knees as he clutched Shigure Kintoki closely to his chest, his breathing coming out slow and shaky.

That had been too close for him. Way too close.

KHR

When Takeshi failed to come back with the notebooks, Mukuro immediately became suspicious. Ryohei was about to run to look for Takeshi, Mukuro but convinced him to go to the class instead, insisting that he could sneak him and Takeshi in before the caretakers even noticed that they were missing.

And since classes were seconds away from starting, Ryohei and the others decided to just leave him to it.

After a shared nod with Kyoya, Mukuro headed for their bedroom. He recalled hoping that his suspicions were wrong and that Takeshi was just late when he overheard some of the caretakers talking. Apparently, one of them had seen Gabe and his goons head outside and they were debating whether it would be worth it to drag them back inside for classes or not.

Mukuro instantly headed back downstairs and within minutes was outside, his eyes diligently searching for Takeshi and the hoodlums. His ears had alerted him to their presence first, prompting Mukuro to head for the backyard. But it wasn't until Mukuro arrived there (turning himself invisible first of course) that the words being spoken became coherent.

It took him less than a minute to completely understand what was going on and Mukuro's blood boiled in even less time than that. He had seen the bamboo sword before, Takeshi having shown them it once when Tsuna pointed out the long lump on his bed. And while Takeshi had acted in his usual carefree manner, Mukuro could tell by how he handled the sword that it was dear to him.

But seeing a desperate Takeshi in the goons' arms made Mukuro realize that the sword was more than dear to him, it was precious. Completely and utterly precious, as well as totally irreplacable. And while he still didn't know why it was so precious, Mukuro knew that something in Takeshi probably would have broke if he hadn't saved it when he did.

Even so, Takeshi had been willing to give his sword up in order to stay friends with Mukuro and the others.

This made Mukuro's heart get hit by an emotion that he couldn't quite name.

"Are..." Mukuro started to say as he walked towards the younger boy, unsure what question he should ask or if he should even say anything. By the time he reached Takeshi, having stepped over the two goons along the way, he decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask both. "Are you alright? Is your sword alright?"

"Uh, yeah," Takeshi answered with a shaky exhale as he looked up at Mukuro. "I'm alright. Shigure Kintoki is alright too."

The way he answered that as well as the way his relieved expression was edged with residual terror made Mukuro grit his teeth while gripping his trident so hard that his knuckles became devoid of color. How could Gabe go to such lengths just to gain some respect and reputation through Takeshi? How could he have threatened to do such a thing under the pretense of being Takeshi's friend?

"Thank you," Takeshi suddenly said, causing Mukuro to focus his attention back to him. "I...this was my pops' sword. He gave this to me before he...d-died and while I don't think he would have been mad at me for deciding to choose you guys over it, I'm...I am really grateful that I am able to have both."

And how could Mukuro have doubted Takeshi's character so much?

"...Sorry," Mukuro apologized softly.

"For what?" Takeshi asked in confusion as his head tilted slightly. "For not coming in right away? I mean, I admit that I don't know you terribly well yet, but you seemed to be the type of guy who likes a dramatic entrance. And besides, you had to sneak up to Gabe anyway."

"No, I mean, yes, but that's not what I'm apologizing for," Mukuro said as he roughly brushed his hair back, messing up his immaculate hairstyle a good bit. "I'm...apologizing for not...trusting you completely. Sorry."

Mukuro then directed his attention to a spot of ground to the side, as anxiety welled up inside of him. Why...what was he thinking? Why did he apologize?! It wasn't like he hadn't treated Takeshi wrongly or coldly. From what he knew of Takeshi, he probably hadn't even suspect that Mukuro had his doubts so why did he bring it up? Now Takeshi was gonna feel hurt and may even get-

"Oh, that makes sense." Mukuro's eyes grew wide as he whipped his head up to look at Takeshi. Takeshi, who was currently giving him a warm smile, with no traces of neither anger or pain in his eyes.

"That...makes...sense?" Mukuro repeated slowly, not sure if he had heard right.

"Yeah, we've only been hanging out for what, two or three days? It makes sense that you haven't completely trusted me yet," explained Takeshi easily. "And now that I think about it, I probably didn't either because not only did I not tell you guys that I got Shigure Kintoki from Pops, I also didn't run straight to you guys when I got Gabe's note telling me that he had kidnapped Shigure Kintoki. So I'm sorry too. I guess that makes us even huh?"

"...Makes us even huh?" Mukuro repeated as a peaceful feeling washed away his anxiety, resulting in him emitting a small chuckle as he smiled. "Okay, yeah, when you put it like that, I guess that does make sense."

Takeshi chuckled as well and opened his mouth.

"Even, huh?" Mukuro's body instantly stiffened as he turned his head to see that Gabe, while still trapped within his throne of vines, was now fully conscious.

"You two may be even or whatever, but I am not even with you! Neither of you!" Gabe declared, his face twisted with hate and promised vengence. Mukuro just narrowed his eyes as he fully turned around so that Takeshi was completely behind him.

"And I never will be!" Gabe continued vehemently as Mukuro's grip on his trident tightened. "One day, I swear-"

"Oh, will you shut up!" Mukuro's eyes widened in surprise as his head moved in the direction of the voice. To his surprise the voice really did belong to Nico, his face full of frustration as he slowly and painfully began to pick himself up.

"...What?" Gabe asked dumbly.

"You heard me, shut up!" Nico repeated as he sat up, his body trembling though with anger or exhaustion Mukuro honestly couldn't say. "It's always, 'they're gonna get what's coming to them one day this,' 'we gonna make them pay for that.' Never, 'let's just forget about them and play some ball for once!'"

"Are...are you siding with them?!" Gabe accused furiously.

"No, but I'm not siding with you anymore either, you obsessed, one-track minded idiot!" Nico shot back. "Seriously, you think after getting mercilessly beaten so many times, that you will learn to stop antagonizing them!"

"But they need to pay!" Gabe argued. "And besides, I did learn something! I learned after the well incident that we needed to be more patient and to strike them from behind the scenes!"

"Well clearly it didn't work!" Nico yelled as he waved at his bloody chest.

"Well, you agreed to the plan!"

"No, I agreed to following you, though I guessed that made me some kind of loyal idiot too. I should have stopped following you once I realized that Matteo was more of a friend than you ever were!"

Gabe's face turned so red that Mukuro honestly wondered if he was going to burst a vessel.

"Are you saying...that you prefer to be that traitor's friend instead of mine?"

"Yes! I miss him and because of you and your bull-headed, dangerous schemes, I wasn't able to say goodbye to him! And I hate you for that!"

"...You wanna go?" Gabe asked, his voice as cool as ice.

"Yes! Yes I do!" Nico accepted angrily as he started to climb to his feet.

"Good, because I'm gonna make you regret saying any of those things!" Gabe declared as he began to climb out of the vines.

"You wish! I'm not dumb enough to listen to you anymore! After this, I'm done with you!"

"...Should we stop them?" Mukuro tore his head away from the incoming fight to see Takeshi peering around him in slight concern and curiosity.

"Hmm..." Mukuro thought about it as he looked back at the two boys struggling to reach each other. "Nah, this is their fight. It would be rude and disrespectful of us if we butt in. Though I guess we can't just leave the scene like this."

Mukuro then waved his trident, causing the vines to instantly disappear. Gabe, who had been slowly but steadily climbing down them, yelled as he fell onto the hard ground.

"Okay, now we can go. Tsuna and the others are probably worried about us by now," Mukuro said as he faced Takeshi and held his hand out. Takeshi looked around him for a second, shrugged, and grabbed Mukuro's hand. Mukuro then pulled him up and let go of his hand only for Takeshi to wrap his arm around Mukuro's shoulder.

"I know I said this before but thank you," Takeshi gratefully said as Nico belted out a battle cry behind them. "Really, I can't thank you enough for saving Pops' sword."

"...It's alright," Mukuro assured him as he eyed Takeshi's arm while he tried to understand if he liked the warm feeling that was swelling inside of his chest. "Brothers look out for each other."

Mukuro's eyes widened when he realized what he just said but one look at Takeshi's face made him not able to take it back.

Not that he wanted to anyway.

"..Okay," Takeshi replied with a warm smile. "I do have one question though."

"And what is it?" Mukuro asked, as he started to walk back to the front of the building, prompting Takeshi to walk beside him (his arm was still around Mukuro's shoulders).

"Did you and Kyoya really throw Gabe and Nico down the well?"

"Oh," Mukuro replied in slight surprise, since he had thought that Takeshi was going to ask about the illusions. Then he put his arm around Takeshi's own shoulders while he made his trident disappear. "What did they tell you?"

"Only that you two threw them down there just for kicks."

"Well, looks like I need to tell you the whole story then, you see..."

Mukuro then continued to tell the whole story very dramatically while Nico pummeled Gabe to a pulp in the background.

When Brando woke up a bit later, he took one look at Nico beating up Gabe, thought about his options, and pretended to be unconscious until Nico left for the infirmary. Brando followed suit after a few more minutes just in case.

And yes, the others did confirm Takeshi to be their new brother when Takeshi and Mukuro got back and to prove it, Kyoya bit Gabe to death sometime shortly afterwards. He also technically bit Nico and Brando as well, though he went a little easier on Nico since he actually broke off his ties with Gabe in a physical fight. Kyoya might have been a little impressed.

So what did you guys think of the chapter as a whole? Please leave a review on the way out and I will update shortly! Until then, see ya and have a great day or night!