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Chapter 2

Chronic

Hibari had left the carriage without wasting a single glance on her, and Kurara couldn't help but notice he had an annoyed, pissy look as he passed. Did he know she had been staring at him while he was asleep? Something told her this was the case. She struggled with her suitcase while leaving out the automated doors, one of the transit officers glared at her impatiently, not even bothering to help.

Kurara rolled her belongings behind her as she cluelessly made her way around the train station. Hibari was completely out of sight, but she hoped this wasn't the last time she would see him.

Her parents had kindly rented her a flat a few blocks away from the university, and it was also there she would spend the next few weeks looking desperately for a job. She wasn't qualified for an apprenticeship, and she wasn't patient enough to go through a precautions course to work in a laboratory – which happened to be where her least favourite subject was so it didn't bother her. Her last resort was to become a janitor, and unfortunately this was the option she ended up taking.

So after about a week of settling in, and not even bothering to greet her neighbours, she was set to begin work the day after tomorrow and was more excited than ever. Her landlady, a kindly woman that was about half a head shorter than Kurara, was nice enough to have her son – who incidentally went to Namimori U – take her to the school for her first day. At first Kurara refused, feeling it would be extremely awkward for her. But the sparkle in her landlady's eyes insisted she accept the offer.

His name was Sawada Tsunayoshi, a down-to-earth boy with outstanding hair. The contradiction could not be any more distinct, when they'd awkwardly got on the bus together and awkwardly sat side by side, they spoke about petty things while trying to get to know each other. If Kurara saw this boy from afar, she would have genuinely believed he was some kind of eccentric, quirky weirdo, not your average Joe.

"So what are you studying?" she asked.

"I'm an Arts student…" Tsuna said meekly.

"You paint?"

"No, not that art."

"Oh." Kurara wasn't sure what he meant. She was that uninformed.

"I major in Italian…"

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"I see."

"Mhmm."

They stopped talking after that.

…..

….

Things were quite scary for her once she stepped foot on the stone pavement that led to the stretch of buildings. At the very end of the wide footpath was the largest building by far, with an old brass clock pinned on its highest floors. Tsuna started talking to her again.

"So er…where are you headed?"

"The main office, I guess."

"Do you want me to take you there?" Kurara could see he was not very willing, so she politely refused, said a word of thanks and waved him goodbye. Which was a big mistake considering she had no idea where to go right after he left. Kurara had no intention in asking anyone, she was socially inept as it was, and her conversation (if you could even call it one) with Tsuna was solid proof.

About an hour and a half later, she finally gave up. She collapsed on the dewy green lawn and waited for someone to come to her. Lying on the campus lawn was surely a good way to attract attention, but when she turned her head to scrutinise her surroundings she saw a number of students lazing around. Some even had books over their foreheads and were most likely fast asleep. Kurara rolled over to her side and ran her fingers through velvety grass. She could feel her clothes dampen the longer she lay there. If only she was a part of this campus life…if only…

"You okay there?" said a voice.

Kurara quickly scrambled to her feet. She came eye to eye with a tall, blonde foreigner, smiling at her with a friendly demeanour. At first she assumed he was a student, judging by how young and energetic he looked, but then she realised no hormone-driven student would be nerdy enough to be wearing a dress shirt and tie. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was "Blegh."

"That's a nice way to put it," he chuckled, "You're not a student here are you?"

"No. But how…?"

"Well, you're standing on the business quadrangle, and I've never seen you in any of my lectures before. Unless you're a psychology student to which I'll have to ask you to leave." He eyed her suspiciously, crossing his arms.

"I'm not. I'm actually here for a new job."

"Which is?"

"Oh. This and that," she replied hesitantly, not wanting him to know of her degrading no-good of a profession that was horse shit compared to his highly respectable job. It was especially pressuring when she realised many of the girls that had been dozing on the lawn had sat up and began staring their way. "I'm sorry c-could you tell me the way to the main office?" Kurara felt like slapping herself for stuttering so obviously.

"Sure!" he cried so suddenly it made her jump back. He offered her his hand. "I'm Dino, a professor in the Faculty of Economics."

"Kurara," she said while taking Dino's hand, who shook hers vigorously. Kurara could see a pen tucked behind his ear – she wasn't sure why she noticed that. "You're not from around here…are you?"

"Italian."

Dino was much more talkative than Tsuna. For most of the part he did the socialising, which made life a lot easier for Kurara. It was also quite evident she wasn't the only one that found him to be very pleasing to be around. A number of students, be it male or female, greeted him enthusiastically as they strolled down the campus. He would smile and wave back, uttering a 'Hey!' every once in a while. Dino was beginning to seem more like a celebrity and less like an educational practitioner to Kurara.

"So, why take a job here?" he asked.

"Nothing much. Just moved from Tokyo for a more confined lifestyle I guess," she lied.

"Oh good, I was beginning to think you were one of those fan girls."

"What?" Kurara stopped in her tracks.

"For the last few weeks there has been a number of girls panning the campus for that guitar hero whats-his-name."

"Mori," she croaked, then cupped a hand over her mouth and slapped herself mentally.

"You know him?"

"I know OF him," she quickly corrected, then took this opportunity to dig in further. "Do you know him?"

"If I did, in fact, if anyone in this school did, he or she would be thrown out by now."

Kurara looked disappointed. But what did he mean by that? She hadn't time to dwell on this when they approached a tall, modern building with glass panels spawned over its surfaces. From inside a transparent glass, she could see shelves of books stacked neatly in a row, and tables facing the open sky. It was an easy guess, and she would be very surprised if she was wrong, but this was the notorious Faculty of Humanities and Sociology. A place she would have been today if certain things went according to plan.

A few metres ahead of them, Kurara saw the students in front begin to edge away from the centre. They parted to form an opening, and many had bolted the opposite direction. Though, as far as many of then went, some girls hid (quite visibly) behind trees and benches. Kurara wondered what all the kafuffle was about. She squinted, but needn't do so as the person that had caused this frenzy appeared from the opening space. He was flanked by two men, and looking meaner than ever.

"Uh oh," Dino chimed, gesturing her to move behind him. His playful smile did not leave his lips. "He's coming."

Kurara poked her head to the side, and saw that Dino and herself were the only two left standing in the middle of the path. Striding towards them was Hibari Kyoya, not in the stylish wear he had on weeks ago the last time Kurara had seen him, but in appropriate working clothes. For some reason, she was glad to see him, and for some reason, he wasn't glad to see either of them.

"Hey, Kyoya," Dino grinned. Kurara couldn't help but notice a hint of melancholy in his smile as he greeted the menacing Dean, but she brushed it off as a mistake.

Hibari did not respond, but looked away with almost disgust. He did however, flicker his eyes towards Kurara who was staring at him with her jaw hanging.

"You don't look too cheerful today," Dino tried again, as the Dean continued his path around them.

"It's none of your business," Hibari finally spoke. Kurara could have sworn he was shying away from the Italian, but the more she looked the more impossible it seemed. He seemed to be growing more frustrated with every word Dino threw up.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Save it for your concubines," he spat, and strode off angrily with a storm over his head, his two minions trailing behind him anxiously. Only when they disappeared into the faculty building, did Kurara turn away from their direction.

What was all that about? She saw Dino sigh miserably. She wouldn't dare to pry but it did make her very curious. She nudged the Italian in the shoulder to get his attention.

"Oh, sorry," he said, finding his pace again. "Best to avoid him if you're planning to work here. Kyoya doesn't like strangers." He probably meant janitors.

"You must be close, calling him by his first name," Kurara deduced.

Dino did not answer the statement. He started talking about how brilliant the students were in his classes, and how he'd only been teaching in the university for 3 years. But nothing he said could erase the sinking feeling in Kurara's chest that urged her to ask more about Hibari Kyoya. She pushed and shoved it away, and when it finally became too much for her, she decided to slip in a subtle question as slyly as possible.

"So um, how's the psychology here?" she asked.

"You interested in psychology?" Dino replied with another question which was not very helpful.

"I was, until I uhh, dropped out." She might as well say it if he's going to find out she's one of the school janitors anyway.

"Couldn't take the pressures of high school?"

"Middle school actually."

"Oh. That's awkward. Sorry. Well I won't lie, but Psychology is probably a mile better than my sector, but I'm a bit iffy about their teaching methods if you know what I mean."

No actually. Kurara had no idea what he meant. "I see. Who's in charge there?"

"The Dean and such."

"What's the Dean like?"

Dino shrugged and made no further comment. He deliberately avoided the question and Kurara could tell immediately, but seeing how uncomfortable it was for him to talk about Hibari (for some frustratingly unknown reason) she didn't press him further and began asking him about the different parts of the campus she could explore while getting used to the place.

When they'd finally reached the front office, Dino went ahead and left his good impression with Kurara. If anything, she knew she would be seeing him again.

Although she was 2 hours late for work, no one seemed to care or realise. She had been given a ghastly green uniform to change into, a locker and a collection of keys. Her colleagues consisted of unsociable grouches that didn't bother giving her any instructions. Kurara wasn't complaining though, it was exactly what she wanted. Keys that gave access to the entire campus and freedom. Now was the perfect opportunity to go exploring.

The uniform looked worse than she thought, even it did perfectly complement her peach coloured hair. It had a suspiciously mouldy smell to it, like its previous owner might have been a rotting corpse. She'd have to get used to it either way. She started down the stairs to leave the building, beginning to feel a slight tinge of excitement. But as she reached the ground floor and strode out the exit door, she was abruptly stopped by a woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun.

"I need you to come with me," she said, pursing her lips.

"Sorry miss, I think you're better of asking somebody else. I'm new to this place." But the woman ignored her, grabbed Kurara by the arm and dragged her out the main building.

They passed the business quadrangle, the huge field that stretched across half the campus, and finally to a ominous and foreboding group of buildings with moss flourishing over the stock brick walls. Kurara shivered as they came closer. The high-strung woman burst through the doors, pulling Kurara along with her. The internal of this building looked nothing like its external, it looked like an abandoned hospital with its white walls and marble floor. The corridor looked especially sinister, the ceiling lights flickered on and off, and there were barely any windows to allow sunlight to seep in.

"Where exactly are we?" Kurara asked, getting slightly creeped out.

"The Science buildings, Mukuro-san asked me to bring a janitor to him. He's locked his keys inside his office again so he needs you to open it for him. Don't get me wrong, Mukuro-san is a brilliant scientist, he was just too busy to realise he'd left them on his table!"

"You…dragged me all the way here…the other end of the campus from Humanities and Sociology…to…" Kurara's voice was raising.

"What?"

"No. Nevermind. Weren't there any janitors nearby?"

"They tend to avoid the Faculty of Science. Mukuro-san encourages most of the students to use the labs to their fullest, so usually there's a mess."

"Kufufu. That's not the only reason they don't like coming here." Kurara jumped as she felt a hand clasp on her shoulder. Her keys jangled in her pocket and threatened to spill onto the floor. She turned around and saw Rokudo Mukuro wearing a pale white lab coat, smirking teasingly at her.

"Mukuro-san, you startled me!" the woman blushed while flapping her eyelids flirtatiously at the Dean of the Faculty of Science. She roughly shoved Kurara to the side. "Look who I've brought!"

"Good job trekking all the way to the main building for me. You can go back now," Mukuro smiled, a hint of mockery in his tone.

"Yes!" she said in a daze, and hurried down the corridor, leaving the clueless janitor to face McCreepy alone.

Kurara didn't dare move a muscle. Mukuro once again chuckled, and turned her stiffened body to face him.

"I don't bite, you know," he said in an almost seductive purr. His eyes looked bemusedly at her outrageous hair. Really, with just his voice and his gaze she felt violated. "Haven't seen you around before, are you new?"

She merely nodded.

"I see. Well, follow me."

And with wobbly knees, Kurara hurried alongside the scientist. To her doom…possibly.