Chapter IX: Woman's Intuition
It was almost eight o' clock in the morning. Under normal circumstances, Hibari Kyoya would be at school, overviewing the early morning routine of its students, however this specific morning he was asleep in his bed, his body still weary recovering from the illness that was just beginning to subside. The most quiet stillness drifted along his apartment as he slept, a thing which he was most grateful of since he was such a light sleeper that he would wake at the slightest of sounds.
At the same time a young girl by the name of Dokuro Chrome was assuming Hibari Kyoya's duty in Namimori Highschool. Clad in the school's uniform instead of her own, she had marched in right away, under Kyoya's orders as she claimed, with an intimidatingly honest audacity. While the rest of the Disciplinary Committee's members had been surprised, they got her words quickly confirmed by Kusakabe -who had been notified in advance by Kyoya himself-, so she had to be alright, if nothing.
The hours proceeded extremely slowly, however the matter itself didn't bother Chrome too much who was used in situations that required waiting. As such, she simply followed the schedule Hibari had given her the night before. She were to make sure everybody was following the rules and that nobody was stirring trouble during school hours. Lastly, she were to make sure that nobody stayed in the school grounds after the time that club activities finished, Lastly she had to make a detailed report of things she observed that were even slightly out of the ordinary and pass it to Kyoya later that evening. Quite simple, indeed.
By the time she made sure that all students were in their classrooms for their morning lessons and no one strange was roaming the hallways she found herself with plenty of time left until lunchtime and nothing specific to do. She sort-of wished she could go see Tsunayoshi but of course he was also in his classroom doing what he was supposed to do. With nothing else to do, she headed for the Disciplinary Committee's room to rest without causing trouble for anyone. In the meantime she couldn't but note how quiet the school felt at that time as everybody was focused at their task at hand, learning new things.
She walked down the hallway in small, quiet steps towards her destination while savoring the feeling the quiet hallways created. She could easily see why Hibari Kyoya loved his school so much. To the students it was a second home but even to a third person observing it felt rather... familiar. Of course, it might just have been her body memory from the times Mukuro had visited Namimori; either way she still felt at home.
Standing in front of the door to the room of her destination, she wondered if anyone else would be there at this time and whether she should knock or not. In the end she decided that it didn't hurt to be polite, even if nobody was in the room and so she knocked on the wood with her hand, lightly and waited for an answer. When, after a few moments , she got none, she pushed the door open a little and peered inside the room from the small opening to scan the room on the other side.
It appeared that she was on her own, in the end. No harm done. She entered the room and pushed the door to close after her. She took a few moments to examine the room around her in order to feel more comfortable with her surroundings. The room itself wasn't much. Its floor was covered neatly by a carpet and its only furniture was a desk, the chair behind it and a pair of sofas as well as a small rectangular bookshelf in one side. She decided to take a look through the books there in case something caught her interest so she could read it while waiting.
While most of the books where regular second-hand textbooks, there were also a few unused notebooks and among them a couple novels, presumably left behind by some other students. Picking one at random, since none of them made any particular appeal on her, Chrome sat on the sofa and placed it on her lap. She waited a few moments in silence, her fingertips softly feeling the cover of the book as she peered away, lost in thought.
She silently wondered how Hibari was. When she left his home that morning to fulfil her task he was still sleeping soundly in his bed. His medication seemed to work just fine, the spiking fever that kept him bedridden the past few days gone. But what if it came back? She decided to place her trust in the other saying he was going to be alright on his own -even though Dino-san had instructed her not to leave him alone-. After all she would hurry back fast after she had finished in the school. With that in mind to relax her, she flipped the book's cover open and began to read.
She quickly became absorbed by what she was reading and lost track of time for she was surprised to hear the door open all of a sudden. For a moment she thought that the bell for lunchtime break had already rang but a glance at the clock on the wall indicated that there was still some time left until then. Yet here he was, a student, at a time he was supposed to be in class. The boy didn't appear to notice her for a moment, looking over at the bookshelf as if searching for something.
"U-Uhmm... may I... help you?" Chrome asked in a manner that came off more timid than what she had planned. The boy turned in her direction and blinked in surprise to see somebody else there at that time. He was such... an odd person, Chrome noticed. His hair had the faintest blue hue and his sole visible eye was of a deep velvet blue color that seemed to pull you in. A smile curved his thin lips as they looked at each other, maybe in response to her flustered words.
"Hello there." he greeted her making a small bow of the head in her direction. "Are you a member of the Disciplinary Committee? I haven't seen you around here before." His tone was friendly and pleasant and it made Chrome feel at ease. It had been wrong on her part to become flustered in his presence. She shook her head in a negative manner, placing the book she was reading back on her lap. "I'm just... replacing Hibari-san until he feels better." she explained.
"Ah! Hibari-san is sick?" the boy exclaimed in a concerned tone of voice. "And I was wondering why he wasn't around the past few days..." the smile quickly returned to his face however. "Oh well... I hope he gets better soon!" he laughed, lighthearted again. Chrome didn't find his reaction too odd, given that he might just be a carefree person -and completely ignoring the fact that Hibari Kyoya didn't really have close acquaintances from the school besides the Disciplinary Committee and even those were more like his subordinates rather than his friends. "I appear to have forgotten my book for the accounting class at home, do you know if there are any spare lying around? The teacher said there might be one here."
Chrome blinked. She couldn't really recall the titles of all the textbooks in the small bookshelf even though she did take a look at them before when she was trying to find something to read. She placed the book she was previously reading on her side and quickly got on her feet to hurry by the boy's side to inspect the bookshelf with him. "Let's see..." she mumbled, her eyes running through the books' backs, trying to locate the title she was looking for.
And surely enough, there it was. The second year's accounting textbook with its grey cover and small, neat yellow title printed clearly down its side. Chrome extended her hand, standing at the tips of her shoes to be able to reach the textbook that was sitting on one of the top shelves. Seeing her reach for it, the boy mimicked her -as if driven by an instinct to help her-, being slightly taller than her he was able to do so without much difficulty; however, in the process, his hand and Chrome's gently brushed against each other making both of them withdraw as quickly as possible, as if embarrassed by the direct contact.
Chrome turned to look at him, her cheeks tinged rosy by a faint blush that crept across them, speechless for a moment. She suddenly came to realize just how close to the other she was. She hadn't had the chance to by that time, being occupied with wanting to be of service. The boy was the one to break the silence first, chuckling softly in a clear, genuine hue that reflected a million colors. "This looks awkward. Like some sort of novel, don't you think?" he laughed. Almost too perfectly so, too. Intimate contact such as this always sparks a future, and he seemed to be quite adept at finding just what girls seemed to want at any given occasion.
"Yes." Chrome simply replied, reaching up again to get the book this time and finally pass it over to the boy. She had to admit that he was somewhat good looking at least. His quiet, smiling face was so calming, soothing and his sole eye showing -the opposite of her's- radiated so much warmth. It was rare for her to take such a liking to people she had just met for no reason. "Well, either way..." the boy went on once again, holding the textbook under his one arm and holding out his right one to exchange a handshake with her.
"I'm Martino, but call me Tino. Everyone does so." he chuckled. Chrome paused for a moment, hesitant to shake hands, then did so, hesitant still. "Dokuro... Chrome..." she introduced herself, blushing fiercely. "Well, I've got to run, Dokuro-chan~" the boy nodded his head, beaming another brilliant smile. "See you around!" he waved his hand as he turned the other way and headed to the door.
And really, have she thought about what was said a little more it would surely strike her as odd, how he said those last words when he had mentioned he was hoping for Hibari to get better soon. It was going to be a while until she finally realized it for herself, but for the time's being she was only left with a lingering feeling of worry, almost as if there was something completely wrong about that meeting that she couldn't place her finger on.
But for now her thoughts would get drowned back in the silence of the room until they faded out and disappeared in a sweet lingering aroma that appeared to be drifting in the room. It was a pleasant scent which she couldn't determine where it was coming from or what it belonged to, yet she still found refreshing. She thought it was nice, for a little while. It was okay, just to sit back and relax.
And just like that she closed her eyes, ready to fall asleep.
Ah! Snow here, on the... arguably most delayed chapter in the history of fanfiction. I can't express how sorry I am for keeping putting it off for later. Then RL delivered a direct strike to my free time and I feared that I wouldn't be able to write anymore. And yet, here I am, unable to disappoint you all, unable to disappoint myself and unable to leave this story hanging. So, I shall, from now on, make sure I make time to write a few chapters ahead of time again.
On a side-note, Chrome's has been... the most difficult point of view I have written up to this day. I mean, even Tino is a little challenging but Chrome had me there. I hope I didn't mess this up completely...
Critique, comments, complaints about the delay...? Always welcome.