Chapter 2: For Hire

0800 hrs, January 2, Year 2100

There was a cheerful bounce with each step Tsuna took. She could not believe it – she had actually gotten a job! Or at least, she was on trial. Now all she had to do was to pass some silly test and she would be hired! A loud honk from behind sounded, jolting her from her happy daydream. She quickly scooted further into the sidewalk, despite the fact that the rude honking was not intended for her, but more for the purposes of showing one's impatience and rage of having to be stuck in a large traffic jam on the way to work.

The bus-stop was chock full with commuters too, tapping their boots and looking at their watches every few seconds. Having a small frame, Tsuna managed to squeeze in between the people, towards the side of the road. Soon, the bus came. As it pulled up in front of her, she got pushed up as people shoved, desperately trying to get on the vehicle. It was already a quarter past eight; many would be late if they were unable to get on board – especially with the morning rush. People were soon packed like sardines in the bus, and Tsuna, poor, small and frail Tsuna, was crushed between a sweaty jogger and a lady smelling of highly intoxicating perfume.

"Toilet freshener," she muttered to herself, little hands grasping desperately to the railing as the bus jolted and jerked at each intersection and traffic light.

Finally, the bus teetered to her stop. Tsuna had to struggle to get past everyone, almost tripping over as she wedged herself out of a pair of oversized twins. She breathed in the slightly fresher air, sighing and half-skipping to Haru Haru's Maid Dispatchment Agency.

"Good morning! Miss Miura?" Tsuna called out, poking her head in to the door, as if taking precaution in case Miss Miura were to jump in her face and give her a big sloppy kiss. All she found was an empty room – the only audible sounds were that of the heater buzzing and each tick of the clock. After confirming her safety, she stepped in slowly on her tip-toes, closing the door as stealthily as possible. Not quite – she had forgotten about the bell attached to it.

"TSUNA-KUN!" A savage cry could be heard before Tsuna felt herself crushed into the wall, Haru with her arms around her body, squeezing it tightly. She rubbed her cheek against Tsuna's icy face. Tsuna only said what anyone could have come up with in such a situation – a string of garbled speech.

"Gwarh?"

Haru suddenly froze, as if having had an epiphany.

"Ah! I'm so sorry! I'm really attached to cute things, ehe!" she said sheepishly, before unwrapping her arms. Tsuna's knees felt wobbly, and they gave way – she collapsed to the ground.

"It-it's no problem. None at all, no, no – "she muttered, cross-eyed. Her hands clutched her chest tightly, as if she had just suffered a heart attack. "I-I think I see the light. Yeah, that's what..." her voice trailed off.

"Live! Tsuna-kun! Don't die!" Haru articulated dramatically. She kneeled by Tsuna's limp body, rubbing her eyes and sobbing, pretending to cry. "Don't die on me!"

"Promise me one thing," Tsuna said, her voice hoarse.

"Yes! Tell what you want! I'll do anything! I'll – " Haru was cut off with the ringing of the door's bell.

"Oya, what an interesting scene we have here," a deep voice said fluidly. Tsuna looked up, only to face mismatched yet uniformly amused eyes and a smirking face. "You know, I was reading an article on Lesbianism in Ero –" he tried to continue, but was cut off.

"Ha-hi! Mukuro-san! It's nothing like that!" Haru got up immediately, dusting off her jeans.

"Kufufu, I'm very sure it was nothing of that sort," he grinned. The man, Mukuro, had a hairstyle that looked somewhat like Tsuna's, except it was an odd shade of black – Tsuna could almost swear it looked bluish. It also strangely looked like a pineapple, with the little clump of hair at the back of his head that spiked up. He had odd-looking eyes as well – an unnatural colour, red, and the other, a dark shade of blue. He looked foreign, and all in all, Tsuna thought, he looked too handsome.

Haru just pouted, shaking her head so vigorously that strands of her dark brown hair came undone, and she looked rather unkempt. Reaching a hand out to help Tsuna up, she soon returned to her business-like tone.

"So, what can I do for you? You rowdy boys scared away another one of my maids again, didn't you?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Give me a cup of tea and we'll talk over it. I'd like some Darjeeling, please," Mukuro said as he stalked over to the sofas.

"Ha-hi! This is not a tea house! You've come to the wrong place if you want to drink tea!" Haru's arms were now akimbo, eyes flashing with great distaste.

"Well, then get the midget over there to do it," he said, now comfortably seated, his arms sprawled across the armrest.

"Don't treat my cute little Tsuna like a maid!" Haru plopped down on the sofa opposite him.

"I'm pretty sure she came here to apply for such a job anyway, looking at her...clothing," his nose wrinkled as he said so. Tsuna stood at the side, veins popping from the left of her temple. At the same time, she felt like crying – did she honestly smell that bad? She knew that she looked horrendous, but there was no reason to snob her! Stupid, stupid rich and good-looking snob! Life was so unfair!

Tsuna, Tsuna, if there's anything that has gotten into your brain, it's definitely the fact that life could never be fair! Tsuna berated herself.

"I'll go get your tea," she said icily.

"Ha-hi! There's no need to entertain this rude man, Tsuna-kun! Just wait at the side and I'll task you with your trial after I deal with him," Haru said, adding a tone of insult at the back of her sentence.

"It's alright," Tsuna turned on her heels, walking into the corridor before Haru could protest any further.

Tsuna, for the sake of her life, could not even find the kitchen in such a small building. It had taken her a few turns, a couple of rounds and passing by the restrooms three times before she found it. Once she did, she immediately set to work, trying to remember off the top of her mind how she used to prepare tea for Reborn. It had been quite a long while since she handled such expensive tea leaves (or at least, she could see from the type – it was the whole leaf type!), but the constant nagging, or less nicely put, torturing, from Reborn had the method of brewing the most delicious tea drilled into her head.

Carrying a tray of hot tea, Tsuna carefully made her way back to the front of the store. The aroma was strong and nice – just the way she had always served it to Reborn.

"But Mukuro-san! I don't have any more maids for hire! You- you and the rest have scared off all of them. Almost every single one has gone to your silly mansion and come back crying, saying that they quit! And those who didn't were so traumatised; they refuse to go back ever again! In fact, you people are the sole reason that we are on such low manpower!"

"It's not my fault they don't respect our privacy," Mukuro sniffed.

Tsuna decided to disregard their conversation, striding up to the coffee table and kneeling down, setting the tea cups down elegantly. She carefully poured the tea into two cups, before placing them before Haru and Mukuro.

"Enjoy," she muttered, picking the tray up again to place it on the counter.

"Ah, Tsuna-kun! I didn't hear you coming. Thank you!" Haru said, as she picked up the tea cup. Mukuro already had the cup in hand, preparing to take a small sip of it.

"Ha-hi! This is wonderful, Tsuna-kun! I've never tasted such good tea before!" Haru smiled, turning to Tsuna.

"Ah – it's just the way I've been brought up, you see. My guardian – Reborn – was quite the Spartan," she grinned sheepishly, shuffling her hair with her hands. She was happy to be acknowledged for once in her life.

Mukuro raised a brow at the mention of Reborn, pupils narrowing and mouth curved into a slight frown; such an emotion flashed across his face for a brief second, before the sly grin returned. Tsuna though, was sharp at catching emotions.

"Is there anything wrong, Mukuro-san?"

"Oh, no, no, nothing at all," he smiled, before turning back to Haru.

"So, Miss Miura. What do you suggest?"

"I really don't have anyone else for hire anymore!" she said, frustrated at Mukuro's stubbornness.

"Well, there is one down here, isn't there?" he said, motioning in Tsuna's direction.

"M-me?" Tsuna was stunned.

"You're disallowed to send the new-comers into shock and distress, Mukuro-san!" Haru objected, placing the tea cup back on the table. "And besides, I haven't tested her abilities yet! Aren't you people very particular about that?"

"There are two things I only care about," Mukuro raised two of his fingers. "One, good tea, and two, privacy. I don't care about what the rest think."

Haru looked between Tsuna and Mukuro. Tsuna looked beyond shocked – she looked traumatised and highly disturbed – it was evident from her slack jaws and wide eyes, which looked as though tears were going to spill from them at any given moment.

"So?"

Haru then looked down. "Tsu-Tsuna-kun?

Tsuna was already weighing the pros and cons in her head. One part of her wanted to jump off the thirtieth floor of a building, but the other urged her to accept the offer. After all, she desperately needed money – she was already three months behind her rent. Accepting the work meant money, and money meant that she could afford to pay the landlady and eat proper meals, or get new clothes. She scrunched up her fists in determination.

"I'll...I'll do it!" she said, pinching her eyes shut.

"Fantastic, great!" Mukuro said, snapping his fingers. He drank the last of his tea and got up. "Well then, make sure that you're ready by tomorrow morning. I'll be coming around at nine o' clock sharp to pick you up – I'm on a tight schedule, so if you're late, you're fired."

He opened the door, but before he left the shop, he turned his head back. "I'll see you tomorrow then, midget." And so he took his leave.

Haru sighed, shoulders drooping slightly. Then, turning back up to look at Tsuna, she asked, "Well, Tsuna-kun... I guess I'll have to hire you temporarily since you took up Mukuro's job. You'll be there until six, every day."

"Y-yes. I'm sorry for agreeing without asking you, Miss Miura!"

Haru just smiled. "It's alright, I guess this can be the trial then! If you manage to work there for more than a month, I'll hire you completely! But there's one thing I must ask – do you have any anomalies in your mental or physical health? It can be quite hard working in that mansion, so I'll have to make sure beforehand that you aren't going to suffer from it..." her voice trailed off.

Tsuna frowned.

"Well, I am a synaesthete, but that shouldn't hinder my work much," she muttered. She was wondering if to go on.

"And...Well, um..." she looked down at her feet. "I've had two fainting incidents since my birthday last year. Bu-but I think it's due to malnutrition! I mean, I'm poor, so I have very little to eat."

"You do look scrawny," Haru nodded and agreed, moving behind the counter to switch the laptop on. "I think I'll have to make sure you start eating healthy from tomorrow, so that problem's that. Alright! Come over here so I can record your personal details."

As Tsuna was about to continue, she was cut off by Haru. Tsuna exhaled deeply, walking towards her.

Mentally...I guess she need not know. It might affect my chances at the job, anyway. I'll just keep it to myself until she asks. At that time, Tsuna had a sudden scene flash in her mind; that of a young boy standing under the cherry tree that she regularly visited. She could see his silhouette, but nothing more. Tsuna tried to make out the clothes the boy wore, his hair colour and his eyes, only to fail. It was not the first time such a scene popped up in her mind – but each time she tried to remember, she could feel something resonate within her chest; her heart pumped harder with each thought of that. She had tried to shove it in a box and lock it – throwing it down the deep ocean of her memories – but that did not prevent it from resurfacing sometimes.

"Come!" Tsuna snapped back to reality as Haru beckoned for her to go to the table.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I was just thinking," Tsuna scurried over to her side.

"Hm?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing."

"Okay!" Haru shrugged it off and went back to the screen.

***

The day ended with Tsuna being stuffed into the maid costume at least ten times before she got it on right. Why the heck must I wear this? It's going to be nothing but an obstruction to my work! Tsuna had mentally screamed – which was also about when she found out that Haru enjoyed cosplay a lot, and the maids at the agency were subjected to her antics incredibly often.

She flopped down onto her bed, cold and utterly exhausted. She would need to get all the sleep she could – her first day was going to be very, very tiring.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews, favourites and alerts!

Apologies in advance for any discrepancies or errors, I kind of wrote it under strict time constraints of lunch time and free periods at school, and I proofread it half-asleep, so yeah. Please do notify me if you should spot any - I love receiving constructive criticism and feedback!

Again, thank you for reading!

Extra notes:

"-kun" suffix can be used for females too (pet names), so don't misunderstand me on this part.