Chapter 16: Still Alive

Namimori Private Hospital

Mukuro woke up in the wee hours of the morning, but he did not know why. It could have been a nightmare, but he did not even remember if he dreamt. All he knew was that his back ached from bending over while sleeping several short hours. His hand was still clutching a smaller, softer one.

"Chrome."

He whispered under his breath, looking at the pale, thin girl who lay on the bed. She was living – he was sure; he could hear the faint sounds of her breath. The girl – Chrome – was hooked up to several machines that were presumably there to keep her alive. Presumably – Mukuro thought bitterly – because the last time he had seen her truly alive was several years back.

He reluctantly let go of her hand and whipped out his phone.

5.53 AM. No reason to be up at all.

He half considered going back to sleep, but he felt thirsty. He gave Chrome a fleeting look before he stalked out of the room silently, hoping to maybe get a warm coffee from the machine outside. Perhaps a warm bowl of soup too – but they admittedly did not taste that fantastic.

When he got to the main corridor however, he heard a voice that mildly shocked him.

"Oh! Mukuro, is that you?"

Mukuro swirled around to shoot a glare at whoever that was speaking, but calmed down when he saw that it was just the bone head.

"Oof, your ponytail really packs a punch," the man said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning, Yamamoto Takeshi. May I know what you're doing up here so early in the morning?" Mukuro said, trying to hold the irritation in his voice.

"Uhm…" he muttered, "err! You first! What are you doing?"

"What I do isn't your business, you know."

It was then Mukuro saw past his sunshine-filled exterior and saw into his worried eyes. Of course – he tasted the anxiety in his voice a long time ago, but had chosen to ignore it in favour of suppressing the mild irritation that was about to explode – he had only wanted a silent hospital visit to Chrome. Not that he was going to let anybody find out about her.

Reading emotions was his forte. Well, it was what he was made to do anyway, by those stupid, stupid Vongola, and their stupid technology. Mukuro grit his teeth at that thought again – how had they strayed so far?

"Well, if you really want to know, Gokudera kind of likes to play with chemicals…"

"At 6AM in the morning?" Mukuro raised a brow.

"Yup! Anyway, gotta run. See ya!"

And then, the other dark haired man took off down the opposite path and left Mukuro alone again. He rubbed the area in between his eyes and continued on his way to the vending machine.

Tsuna jittered as she watched Hibari silently consume his soup.

"S-so, how is it?"

He stared at her for awhile, making her squeak a small "eep!"

"Hibari! Hibari!"

Suddenly, a high-pitched cry shook the air.

"Hibari! Hibari!"

A yellow bird flew out from his room (Tsuna supposed; she was just making an assumption) and perched itself on his shoulder. Hibari put his spoon down and reaching his finger over to touch the small bird on its forehead. It instinctively nuzzled into his finger, chirping delightfully as it did so.

"I – uh – am keeping a friend of mine waiting. So if you don't mind, I'll be leaving…"

Tsuna eventually said this when she managed to peel her eyes of the bizarre sight – a fierce and dangerous man caring for his small (albeit electronic) pet.

"Stay."

"I'll be go – …" Did you just tell me to stay? Tsuna mentally shrieked. She dared not to disobey the man though – only god knew what he would do to her if she tried.

"O-okay…"

Thus, two awkward people sat together at Hibari's table, the only sounds being his slurping and the bird's somewhat off-tune song. When Hibari finished his bowl, he leaned back and looked at Tsuna expectantly.

"Uh, I'll get that," Tsuna said while standing up. She reached over to grab the emptied bowl. Before she could however, Hibari's hand shot out and latched onto her wrist. She looked at him inquiringly and he back at her with scrutinizing eyes.

"Na – " he began, but was interrupted by the shrill chirp of his bird.

"Hibari! Hibari!"

Na? Nuts? At this rate, I'm definitely going to go nuts, Tsuna thought, mental tears running down her cheeks.

Thankfully, Hibari's attention diverted back to the bird whom he now allowed to perch on his finger. Tsuna picked up the bowl and hurried over to the sink, focusing all her attention on scrubbing it squeaky clean.

When she finally put the bowl in its place, she turned back to the sink and shook her hands over the sink, ridding them of excess water. All this she did with Hibari's pressurizing gaze on her. He seemed to be staring rather intensely at her even though she had mentioned, rather softly, that he should go to bed and rest. She looked down at her clothes to see if there was anything funny on it. She also double-checked with the back of a spoon to see if there was anything on her face. Nothing odd, so she looked back at him.

"L-look – …"

"Thank you."

"Huh?"

"I said, thank you. You may now leave, if you'd like to."

He stopped staring and turned around.

"Wait! Uh, Hibari-san!"

Tsuna rushed over to the bag she had left on her counter and began to rummage through it. Eventually, she fished out an aluminum package that contained two small pills within it. Tsuna had already prepared a warm glass of water, and she sat the two items onto the table.

"Do take these pills and go back to rest, uh, please?"

Hibari snorted. She chose to ignore it and picked up her bag, making her way out of the apartment.

"Hello, Haru-san?"

"Oh! Tsuna – ah, ah, choo! " Haru spoke. Her voice sounded much more clogged up now, and it was rather hard to hear her speak.

"I'll be on my way now, so just you hold on. I'll have to restock on a few supplies though, because I used some of them … "

"Hu—" Haru's voice was cut off by another loud sneeze.

"Anyway, I'll be over in about thirty minutes!" Tsuna quickly said before Haru inquired any further.

True to her words, Tsuna arrived at Haru's exactly thirty minutes from her phone call. She prepared the soup that Haru thoroughly enjoyed, and was begged by her to stay on a little while, a request to which Tsuna had to politely decline.

"Bud! Deh gomin ob age zeremony!"

"What?"

Haru sniffled and tried to clear her throat.

"The coming of age ceremony! I was looking forward to dressing you up and marching you there too…" she said with a pitiful look in her eyes.

So, that was how Tsuna found herself in (far too) intricately designed cloth with a rather energetic Haru doing up her hair. One hour had passed since Tsuna agreed to Haru's pleas, but on a condition that she did not need to attend the ceremony. Haru was still insistent that she posed for some pictures though.

"- And, there!" Haru said, adding the last flower onto Tsuna's head. She raised a mirror that she seemingly took out of nowhere and shoved it into Tsuna's face.

"How's this?"

"Err, erm…stunning?" Tsuna said in a daze as she stared into the mirror.

"And now, for the main sh-ah choo!" Haru quickly turned her head away from Tsuna and sneezed loudly. She quickly regained her composure, this time raising a camera.

You have got to be joking! Pictures too!

Tsuna stumbled out of Haru's shop at 9AM. It was the start of the day, and Tsuna already found herself immensely fatigued. She did not know how Haru managed to sap away all her energy so early, but she eventually forced Haru to eat some medicine and rest after a hundred or so pictures. She then set off for the mansion.

Work passed uneventfully; Tsuna had not managed to catch Yamamoto, or Sasagawa. Even Lambo, Mukuro and Gokudera were not around. At the end of the day – when the sun was still setting (work ended early since it was supposed to be a national holiday)– Tsuna noted with a tinge of regret that she did not go to the ceremony in the end. Haru had been talking so animatedly about it for the past few days, and even prepared a nice outfit for her. Well, maybe she would have gone had Haru not fallen ill, so it was not completely her fault after all.

As she was about to leave, she heard a loud explosion coming from somewhere in the house.

"Uri!" an annoyed shout followed, then a loud cry that sounded akin to that of a particular leopard cub that Tsuna diligently took care of in the Pet Shelter.

The little feline hopped past her not moments later and wrapped itself around her ankles, hissing. Then, she realized that a white blur was charging at her at full speed. Since Tsuna was rather slow, she could not avoid the thing that had just rammed into her. The three toppled to the ground in a crumpled heap. Tsuna tried to get up, but not before realizing that she was in a very awkward position with a man.

Uri mewed calmly next to her, licking its paws, and then running off towards the Pet Shelter.

"Uh- hello? Go-Gokudera-san?"

Gokudera was more focused on being angry at Uri than on the general position that they were in now. He got up and then looked at Tsuna, sneering at her in contempt.

"Why in the world were you in my way?" he said rather loudly. Tsuna winced, finding it painful to her ears.

"B-But, I couldn't avoid…"

"Bah. Just get up already," he said, extending his hand to her. His eyes softened a little, though he looked a tad bit too fierce for Tsuna's liking. She still felt rather uncomfortable and blushed when she recalled the – for lack of better words, compromising position that the pair had been in earlier. She did seem to always have embarrassing moments with these people, didn't she? Tsuna shuddered as she thought this.

Gokudera looked, cross-armed, as she carefully dusted off her overcoat.

"Anyway, I'm sorry that I was a disturbance today," she said with a curt bow. The words came more shakily than she would have liked, so she gulped, hoping for at least a positive or neutral response from him. Either worked, as long as it did not end with her being scolded or shouted at.

"Hmph," he muttered, "Sawada right?"

He looked away, hesitant to say what he was about to next.

"Sorry…f-for bumping into you like that. I'll get Uri to apologise later."

"Ah, no. It was not a problem."

A positive response. Not bad.

Then, Gokudera seemed to remember something.

"Eh, hey – Sawada. Did you see Takeshi today? You'd notice him – his idiocy is rather hard not to detect."

"Uh, not at all."

She could hear him mutter a couple of profanities, but generally got the idea of what he was saying.

"Bastard, running off like that after I told him I was injured. Anyway, sorry 'bout that. Bye," Gokudera slipped his hands into his pockets and walked back towards the mansion. Tsuna waved weakly after him and set off again.

Her next roadblock arrived promptly, and Tsuna was convinced someone just did not want to let her get back to the safety her home.

"Oya, Midget. Still working today?"

She stared back up into the double coloured eyes of the mischievous man before her.

A/N: Short chapter again, Portal inspired title, exams in 1 week, going to die. But thanks for the reviews and everything!

(Talk about messed up priorities, but if it'll justify my actions, I need a break.)