Chapter 10: Shelter from the Snow

2330 hrs, Friday; 8 January 2100

"Thank you, Miss Miura!" Tsuna said, bending over to look through the open car window.

"I told you, call me Haru!"

"Ah – right. Thanks Haru." She scratched her ear, having forgotten.

"Don't sweat it! You can return the purse and the dress tomorrow! Remember to empty you stuff out though – and, oh! You left your own clothes and bag at the shop… well, I'm sure you can take them back tomorrow too!" Haru replied cheerfully, although she sounded a bit tired as some of her words dragged out.

Before Tsuna could turn and head up her apartment block, Haru called out to her.

"Hey, you've just turned twenty right?"

"Eh? I wouldn't call it just. It was back in October…"

"Spare the small details, the Coming of Age ceremony is this Monday, isn't it? Are you celebrating?"

"No, I don't think so. I don't have any formal… "At those words, Tsuna could spot a twitch of Haru's mouth and a glint of mischief in her eyes. "Eh! Er," Tsuna could not think of words to say, but she knew that there was no stopping Haru now. When she meant business, she meant it, oh boy she did.

"I'm declaring a break on Monday! You will celebrate it! Come by at eight, and you'll be all dressed up!"

"Like I'm saying, there's no need…"

"Nonsense! If Haru says you'll do it, you will!" There was no denying the truth to those words, so Tsuna just let out a puff, and conceded her defeat.

"I'll be seeing you then!"

"Bye…" Tsuna lifted a weak hand, watching as Haru's car sped off. She then wearily dragged herself up a flight of stairs, to her apartment on the third floor.

As Tsuna was approaching, she could see a large brown box placed outside the doorstep of her house. She quickened her pace, wondering what the mysterious package could be. However, it was only but a horrible surprise that awaited her.

"What the hell…" she murmured to herself, bending down and rummaging through the box. Inside were all her belongings – her clothes, amenities, and what little food supplies she had kept. Tsuna immediately got up again, rummaging her purse for her house keycard. The problem was, the lock had been changed, and when she tapped the reader, no matter how close the card was to it, the door was reluctant to open. The more she tried to press the card against the sensor, the more frantic her hands became – it got to the point where she was incessantly, and rather loudly, started banging on the door.

"Hello - ? Anybody in there? Hello!"

She could care less about waking the neighbours now – she just did not want to lose her home. Especially not when she had no one to turn to – she could not possibly bother Haru again for help, could she?

Finally, Tsuna gave up, running out of energy and the pressure in her head reaching its max. She pressed a hand to her head, her other hand clenching the key card in her fists tightly. It was scary; to have to stay out, and she was not even a woman, although she was twenty, but a girl in the darkness. There was so much out there, so many things – night was menacing and cold; there was no shelter from the snow – Tsuna's home had been taken from her.

"What's going on?" she whispered to herself. Tsuna could hear footsteps approaching. She made no effort to turn to look, however. Somehow, she knew that it was the landlady.

"I'm evicting you. You haven't paid your rent," the stern, deep and gruff voice. Tsuna turned around and looked at the plump and detestable lady. Thoughts ran through Tsuna's head, as she contemplated her next step. However, with her heart palpitating as it was, each thought ran past only as a fuzzy signal, impossible to make sense of. In the end, Tsuna tried to reason with her, deciding that it was the next best course of action.

"But, I don't have another place to stay!"

"Then go find one."

"I can pay your rent! I just haven't gotten my pay yet, so I'll give it to you at the end of the mon– …"

"Hah? It's the same as last time. I've given you your chances Sawada. You have to go. Take that box – shoo, go."

Tsuna could not believe her ears. She had heard of heartless, but this was far too much. The landlady could have offered her one more night, before day would break again and it would not be dangerous to go out alone. Being the meek and often bullied Tsuna, her willpower was already wavering, and she was already planning what to do next.

"You heard me, Sawada. Take – go."

"Please…"

"Go."

The word held the power of finality, and Tsuna understood that immediately. It was hard – to bend down and pick the heavy parcel up – in high heels, but Tsuna managed, with a loud grunt. She stumbled around for awhile, before managing to get on proper footing. She could hear the landlady snort like a satisfied pig, and footsteps signaling her departure, back into the sty where she lived.

"Unh!" Tsuna grunted, setting the heavy parcel down the pavement loudly. She could hear nothing but the crickets chirping loudly, and the sound of the spoilt lamppost flickering on and off in irregular intervals. She stayed on her feet, but they were starting to turn sore – Tsuna was not used to wearing the torture device known to women as "high-heels" – and they ached so much, she had half the mind to take them off and put them in the bin, had it not been Haru's.

What was the next course of action to take? Head down to the central? Sit in a bench and wait for dawn, perhaps. If she fell asleep, at least there would be patrolling Sentinel Androids to keep her safe on the streets. Even if it were partly risky Tsuna knew she had to head somewhere populated – it was dangerous of a young lady like her to be alone at night. She could dig an extra sum of money to rent a small room in a hotel in the central, to the very least.

"My luck is horrible…"

Tsuna picked up the parcel again, and began staggering along the pathway, down to the bus-stop 3 blocks away.

As she waited in the seats, sleep started to tempt her, her eyelids growing heavy and her head falling backwards every once in awhile, only to jolt her back to attention from the sheer shock of the back of her head coming into contact with cold, hard steel – then she became drowsy again, and the cycle would repeat itself. It was 11.45 by then, and the bus was minutes away from arriving, as Tsuna read from the digital screen. She decided that she would indeed head down to Namimori Central, and then she could choose her next course of action.

Tsuna looked up – little fluttering drops of snow began to fall onto the earth – they could not be seen, but she could feel it against her cold cheek, coming into contact with them, then floating off somewhere into oblivion. There were no stars in the sky – there never were stars. The sky remained a slate of grey and dirty pollution – only that it was a darker grey with a mix of dark blue when nightfall came. It was cloudless – the only "clouds" being the puffs of toxic air pollution.

After a moment of waiting, the bus came to a stop in front of her. Tsuna, with a load of effort, managed to clamber up the bus and settle down with the large package next to her. She could hear the doors close, before it went on its way.

As the scenery zoomed past, Tsuna was fighting a losing battle with sleep. Her eyelids drooped, and her body was screaming for rest. It was already midnight - few people were sat in the bus, especially since it ran pass the less-populated districts of the city. Soon, she – with her arms sprawled over the top of the package – lay her head back, and fell asleep.

It was only a moment later when she could hear the bus driver announcing the arrival of the bus at a foreign place – or at least, a place that Tsuna did not expect to be at. She had fallen asleep for thirty minutes, and missed her stop a long while ago. She panicked, frantically telling the bus driver to stop. She then grabbed her brown box, struggling with it – but only earning apathetic looks from the other tired commuters.

"Where is this…?" Tsuna looked around when she had gotten off, but could only see a row of posh condominiums standing tall before her, instead of the opposite bus stop she was hoping to spy. There was never a last bus, thankfully, as after eleven o'clock, most buses on the streets were driven by artificial intelligence – she could still afford to head back to where she came from.

"Eh?" She turned back, finally finding a map of the city on the digital projection at the side of the bus stop. Peering carefully, she could tell that she was of close proximity to the Vongola Mansion.

"Wait a second," she peered closely into the map again. "Ah! This is…" Tsuna pursed her lips for a moment, before rummaging through her purse for her wallet. She knew she kept a spare card-key, slotted into one of the wallet's card holders.

What Tsuna had remembered was that before she moved out, both she and Reborn had stayed in this condominium estate! It was not clear to her tired eyes at first. She still had access to the apartment as Reborn had left it to her in case anything would happen. She sighed in relief, glad that Reborn was rather intuitive – or rather, he had a lack of faith in his ward – having confidence that she would get into this sort of trouble, somehow. Before she had left the house, she told Reborn huffily that she would be independent – that she would not need it. Reborn had only given a derisive laugh, and told her to keep the access card, having a bet with her that she would definitely need it. It hurt her ego to have lost another challenge with Reborn, but dignity was not important now. It was finding a shelter from this uncertain darkness that held priority over one's pride.

Tsuna immediately set off for the apartment. She could still remember the floor they had used to live on, and the apartment number – she located the front door quite easily. What greeted her was an empty shoe rack outside, in the corridor. Memories came flushing past back to Tsuna – how there used to be pairs of neatly arranged shoes in the shoe rack, for Reborn would have it in no other state.

Tsuna pressed the keycard against the door's scanner, and then another button next to it. The button activated a few invisible security sensors to ascertain that it was the real resident of the house that was opening the door. A second went past, before the light on the scanner turned green, and the door unlocked itself.

She turned on the lights, pleased to see that the house seemed untouched, even if a little more empty than previously. One thing irked her though – it was how well the house had been maintained when no one had been living in it for ages. The floor was still squeaky clean, and was newly polished. When Tsuna had walked past the bathroom to the right side of the corridor, she found that the sink was still wet and recently used.

Tsuna set the box down with a huge thump, before rubbing her sore arms and taking in the surroundings. The living room was as neat as ever; the television – only just a thin slide of glass – sat right in front of the glass windows. Every other part of the house was spotless.

"Welcome back, No-Good Tsuna," a low voice shot out, ruining the silent atmosphere.

"Hiek! Reborn!"

It came from Tsuna's left, where there was a dark room with a partially opened door. Tsuna could make out the edges of a fedora.

"Is that how you're going to greet me, Reborn?"

"So, how much do you owe me? That bet," he stepped out, revealing his whole body to Tsuna. Reborn was tall and built, sporting an expensive black suit and an odd orange fedora on his head. His fedora often shadowed those dark and cunning eyes of his – it made many fear the man upon first impressions.

Is that what you think of when you see your ward for the first time in months?

Tsuna tried to resist the urge to place her palm on her face, triumphant in her efforts. It was then that she felt a rough shove from the back.

"Ow!"

"Welcome back, stupid-Tsuna. I won that bet – mind you. Don't run away from it now,"

"Reborn! I wasn't – wait! How did you come from the back?"

"That was just a holographic projection, idiot."

"Ehhh? And, what's with the spotless house? You hate cleaning!"

"Cleaning I hate indeed, but there's nothing wrong in hiring a robot to do it for me."

Tsuna bit her lip. She did not like those cleaning robots – they just made life too convenient sometimes, and added on even more to its artificiality. Then again, it was the year 2100 – where people cared more for convenience as their time quickly grew scarce.

Reborn was holding a wine glass in his hand, swirling it around for a bit before downing the entire thing. He set it down onto the coffee table, folding his arms as he eyed Tsuna.

"So, what brings you back? I'm sure it's nothing like… getting kicked out of your old apartment," he smirked. Tsuna could feel a bead of sweat roll down the side of her head. He was obviously mocking her!

"Wh-Whatever! Anyway, I just need a place to stay. My room is unoccupied, right?"

Reborn was now sat in the soft cushions of the sofa. He was looked at the television screen for awhile, and then turned his head to address Tsuna.

"It depends on what you mean by occupied."

Tsuna immediately did not like the sound of that. She rushed off in the direction of the rooms. Reborn shook his leg as he awaited her reaction – a loud, long shriek.

"Reborn! What the hell is this?" Tsuna came out of the room, carrying a costume frog's head in her hand.

"Disguise."

"No one is going to fall for this! And I want my room back!"

"Then work for your room."

"You're telling me to clean that all? By tonight?"

"Well, if you don't mind sleeping on the couch, it's up to you…"

Tsuna gave a sigh of defeat. It was far too late to start cleaning up the room, so she definitely would have to sleep in the living room that night. At least though, she had a place to stay again.

"Then, it's my turn to ask you. What are you doing back in Namimori? And you didn't even tell me!"

"I thought I might surprise you."

"Surprise? What do you – …"

"You're awfully spineless. It's fun." Tsuna did not have a rebuttal to those words, so she gave a sigh of defeat.

"So? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was busy… with work."

"With the Vongola?" Tsuna said, taking a seat next to Reborn.

"Yes."

"Oh – speaking of the Vongola…" Tsuna hesitated for a bit, wondering if it was wise to mention Mukuro. After all, he had spoken of Reborn with such a vile tone, it was hard not to notice that he harboured a sort of enmity towards him. Would Reborn bear the same emotions too?

" – Never mind."

"What is it? Spit it out."

"I said, never mind."

"Say it."

"Ah – " Tsuna tried to think of what to say.

"I, uh, you, do…" words fumbled about in her mind, coming out of her mouth unwittingly.

"Speak a proper language, will you?"

Tsuna had no choice. She could not think of a way to cover up, so she just decided to ask what she had originally intended to.

"Do you know someone by the name of… Rokudo Mukuro-san?" she asked. Reborn seemed to stiffen a bit when he heard the name – Tsuna immediately noticed this.

"You're his fan?" Tsuna could tell, somehow, that his question was unrelated to what he wanted to know. Although Reborn very easily hid lies and hid body language, in a few off-chances was she able to guess what he was up to.

"Yes! I'm his fan! I'd – really like to meet him one day!" she lied.

Reborn snorted. And then, he laughed.

"I never expected you to be the type to like…"

"I have my interests too!" Tsuna argued back indignantly.

"Alright, I'll arrange for you to see him one day," Reborn said, trying to restrain another surge of laughter.

"N-No, I don't want to inconvenience you!" Tsuna started to shake her hands in front of her. She definitely did not want to meet up with Mukuro! Especially that it would be embarrassing for Mukuro to think that she, of all people, was his "fan"!

"I'm sure he has plenty of time," Reborn told her, getting up. "I'm going to bed now."

"Eh! No! But – I – "

"Good night."

"G-Good night."

Reborn shut the door tight behind him, taking off his fedora and coat and throwing both the items to a side of the room. He then snorted sardonically.

Don't think you can lie to me, Tsuna.

A/N: I. Am. An. Idiot. Apologies to any confusion caused by the weird dating…I forgot that the 22nd century started in 2101 and not 2100, so I changed the summary. A longer explanation of this can be found on chapter 1.

Anyway, on to the chapter…I don't really like this chapter. The movement of events seemed very rushed and I spent a long time on thinking of how to make it any more realistic, then failed miserably. It will be nice to receive feedback regarding this, and I would really appreciate it. (Especially I wrote this chapter half asleep again…there's bound to be a giant butt mistake here.)

This chapter is…just a little longer than the other chapters. I hadn't updated in two weeks, good god, so I am apologizing to you guys about the late update too.