Sun and Moon, Ryohei's Destiny 5 {Pineapples}
It had been days since the date with Culpo and Ts'aan. Ts'aan wasn't very happy with the left over teddy bear that was given to him by Gokudera. I didn't need to ask Miharu why she didn't do it. It was simple. Miharu simply didn't want to deal with the guy. She had been dealing with him every day since we had arrived at the school and the very moment when he tried to kiss her had been the last straw.
The current morning, I had walked into the Sawada home like it was my home. Then again, Tsuna's mother practically treated Miharu and I like family. Miharu walked in right behind me. Instantly, I could smell freshly made breakfast coming from the kitchen.
"Ah, good morning, girls." Tsuna's mother greeted as we sat at the kitchen table. "Help yourself to some breakfast."
Reborn, Bianchi, Fuuta, Lambo and Ipin were already seated at the table eating their breakfast. "Momma!" Lambo called. "Lambo wants more!" Miharu sighed and shook her head at her brother's manners.
"Lambo, be nice." She told him. Lambo stuck his tongue out at her and Miharu returned the favor.
"Oi! Reborn! I don't remember asking for a wake-up call." Tsuna whined as he walked into the kitchen. He was still in his pajamas and he was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. When he looked at me and Miharu, he seemed shocked. Miharu and I had planned to train him some more. Today was Saturday which meant there was no school and Tsuna didn't have any plans; at least to Miharu, Reborn and I. "Hiiiiii!" Tsuna nearly fell over when he saw us. "W-what are you doing here?"
"Training!" Miharu cheered with food in her mouth. I rolled my eyes at Miharu's manners. She was almost like her brother. I swallowed my bite and took a sip of my drink.
"Miharu and I are training you today. Didn't Reborn tell you?" I asked and turned to Reborn. The infant hitman lowered his head but he just smiled. Clearly, he hadn't.
"Oh, alright," Tsuna sighed, "but I'm going to take some food to Chrome first." Miharu and I stopped eating and looked at the Tenth. Who was Chrome? Why did he need to take her food?
"Do her parents not feed her?" I asked. I could sense Miharu was beginning to get a little upset. But Reborn was there to comfort Miharu's thoughts.
"No," Reborn answered for Tsuna, "Chrome is the Mist Guardian." Miharu and I looked at each. The Mist Guardian? I wanted to ask him why he didn't tell us about her but I figured he didn't really get around to it. Then again, we didn't really ask him. I placed my empty plate in the sink and turned back to Tsuna.
"We're going with you." I informed him. Tsuna was shocked again but Reborn just smiled. "Tsuna, we must meet every Vongola Guardian. We're going with you." Tsuna smiled and nodded as he agreed. Miharu and I helped Tsuna prepare a meal. We cooked anything and everything. Tsuna's mother even helped though she didn't bother asking who it was for. She just helped us. Bianchi even asked to help but none of us thought it was a good idea. Thankfully, Reborn told her it was alright. We had enough help. She seemed fine with his statement and left it at that.
The walk to Kokuyo Land was a little far but it was nice. Well, sort of. The closer we got to Kokuyo Land the more worried I was becoming for this Chrome girl. When we reached the building, my worries were confirmed. The building was run down, hardly looked livable and didn't seem to have any form of life anywhere. The birds didn't even bother making it their perch.
"This is where she lives?" Miharu asked shocked. I was too speechless for words, myself. Tsuna looked straight ahead and just nodded. This was unavoidable. I couldn't let this go. I couldn't stop thinking about it.
The three of us walked into the building but, again, there didn't seem to be any sign of life. That is, until, two boys jumped out of nowhere.
"Hey!" A blonde boy yelled at us. "What are you doing here?" The boy and his friend looked at us but the blonde boy began sniffing the air. It was almost the same way a hound would smell food. His friend was thin and looked almost bored. A small barcode tattoo was imprinted on the side of his cheek. I was almost tempted to drag him to a grocery store and run his tattoo underneath a scanner.
"This is Ken and Chikusa." Tsuna informed. "They're friends of Chrome's." The one called Ken continued to sniff the air as if trying to figure out what new smell had reached the air.
"Rice balls?" He asked. "Chicken? Beef? Hmm," he smiled and looked at the bento box in my hand. "Smells delicious." Miharu stepped in between the two of them to protect the food.
"The contents in these bentos don't belong to you. They belong to the Mist Guardian: Chrome." Ken glared at Miharu and tried to get past her but she would move in every direction the boy would try to turn.
"Boss," I heard a small voice say. Tsuna looked past Chikusa and Ken. I looked to where he was looking and noticed a very thin girl. Her voice was soft and her body looked fragile. So fragile, in fact, that it was as if she would break with one wrong move. She was in a state much worse than I had imagined.
"Chrome!" Tsuna smiled and walked over to her.
"Hey!" Ken yelled but Tsuna ignored him.
"I'm glad you're alright. We brought you some food." Tsuna told her and held up one of her boxes.
"Thank you very much," she said in her small voice. Chrome took the small box and gestured for us to follow her. Ken and Chikusa didn't seem very interested and walked their own way. Though, I could tell they wanted to keep a watchful eye on us in case we were going to attack Chrome or something. In her state, I was afraid to even touch her. Chrome took us to a big room with red ragged and torn curtains. In the middle of the room, sat an old couch that had been worn out but I could tell someone still slept in it every night. And I could take a pretty good guess who that person was.
It was hard getting her to eat but we finally got her to. She was a shy girl and barely said a word. It even took awhile for her to warm up to us since we were the strangers to her. Miharu almost yelled at her for not saying anything but I stopped my friend before she could. At one point, I looked around the room just to take it all in. This was not a place a guardian should stay but if I took her in I would feel obligated to take in the other two boys. That's when I got an idea.
"Miharu," I said, "can I talk to you for a minute over there?" Miharu nodded and we excused ourselves from Tsuna and Chrome. "Miharu, I don't like this." I whispered to her. "Chrome shouldn't be living here. She doesn't having anything to eat here. From what it looks like, the only food she gets is from whoever brings it to her and she sleeps on an old couch that's broken down and can't possibly be comfortable."
"What are you suggesting? Divine intervention?" Miharu asked and I nodded. It was the only thing we could really do for the sake of this girl. No guardian was going to die on our watch. The two of us walked over to Chrome who was, still, barely eating.
"Chrome," I smiled. I hadn't even told her and I was already feeling better about my decision. "We're going to take you shopping."
"Eh? Shopping?" Tsuna asked.
"Yes," I informed him, "shopping. We're going shopping for food and furniture. No guardian of the tenth's is going to be living in this place without the proper items. Tsuna," I turned to the Tenth who seemed to be smiling at us. Cleary, he was satisfied with our decision. "You may accompany us if you'd like. We shall train you tomorrow but right now we have something more important to take care of." Chrome's expression was too hard to read. I couldn't tell if she was shocked in a good way or a bad way. She looked at Tsuna who smiled at her.
"That's wonderful Chrome. That way you can be more comfortable at night." The small girl smiled and followed us out though we didn't get very far.
"Hey!" Ken shouted as he ran towards us. Chikusa continued to look bored and decided to walk instead of run. "Where do you think you're taking Chrome?"
"To the store. We're buying her food and furniture. You can come if you want." I shrugged. I figured they would have tried to fight us if we tried to take her anywhere without them.
"Of course we're going with you." Ken glared. Chikusa just nodded and placed his hands in his pockets. It seemed we were having two more people tagging along. The whole way there was pretty quiet. I tried to get Chrome to talk but she would just nod her head. The girl barely even smiled. I worried for her, though I barely knew her.
At the store, Miharu and I split up. We were excellent shoppers. Though, that just meant we got our shopping done in record time. I filled up as many carts as I could with food. "What's your favorite kind of food?" I asked Chrome.
"Chocolate." She said. Though, I think that's what she said. Sometimes it was hard to understand her because she was so quiet. I grabbed a few things of chocolate and continued on.
"Chrome," I began, still trying to get her to talk, "are you alright? I mean, those boys that we brought with us don't hurt you do they?" Chrome's head shot up and she shook her head.
"No, they're my friends." I had no choice but to believe her. She just seemed like she had been beaten or abused somehow. Though, there didn't really seem to be any sign of abuse. I didn't even know why I asked.
"Alright, I'm sorry I asked. I know I don't know you but you're very thin. I'm just worried for you. I just want to make sure you're all right." The two of us continued to walk down the aisles, her head hung low.
"Thank you," she said as quiet as a mouse. I was about to change the subject when I heard a familiar voice scream.
"HOLD STILL!" Chrome and I ran toward the front of the store. I couldn't believe it. My best friend had given in. Chikusa was pinned, face down, at the register. His face was smashed against the scanner. Miharu was trying to get a reading on his bar code tattoo.
"Hey!" Ken yelled as he tried to get her off of Chikusa. "Get off of him!" Miharu punched Ken. The blonde boy fell backwards and glared at my friend. Miharu, once again, smashed Chikusa's face back onto the scanner.
"I HAVE TO KNOW! NOW HOLD STILL!" She continued to shout.
"Miharu!" I shouted. This wasn't good. If she didn't stop, she would get us kicked out and we wouldn't be allowed to buy Chrome all the food we had spent a good deal of time on getting. Miharu looked up at me as she was caught in the act.
Beep. The scanner dinged. Miharu released Chikusa and stared up at the screen.
Pineapples - $4.73.
Miharu and I blinked at the screen. Pineapples? Really? That was something I really wasn't expecting. Then again, I wasn't even sure if I expected it to read anything. Chikusa rubbed his cheek where Miharu had slammed his face in.
"If you're done, I'd very much like to leave." Chikusa sighed. I had no objections. Tsuna ran up to us panting. He must have been all the way in the back of the store to have finally just caught up.
"What happened?" He asked. Miharu said nothing as she began to check out the items in her cart. The small girl at the cash register didn't really know what to say. A little show like that was not seen in everyday life.
"Nothing," I smiled and shook my head.
We left the grocery store and moved onto the furniture store. Ken and Chikusa decided not to join this time, afraid of what else we might have done to them. I kept close to Chrome. It took a while for her to actually open up to me. Well, as much as she would ever open up to. It almost seemed as if she wasn't used to all this attention. She was just used to the two boys who didn't seem to treat her very well.
"What about this one?" I asked again as I pointed to another couch. "Here, have a seat." I sat down and patted the cushion next to me. Miharu plopped down on the small sofa chair nearby. Chrome sat down and looked down at her hands. "Chrome?" I asked. "What's wrong?" She said nothing at first. "It's ok. Whatever it is, you can tell us."
"Thank you," she said in her small voice. "For doing this."
"Of course!" I placed an arm around her tiny shoulder. The small girl looked up at me. "We hate seeing you living in a place like Kokuyo Land where nothing is comfortable." For the first time all day, a small smile formed on her lips. It wasn't much but it was better. "So," I said clapping my hands together. "What do you think of this one?"