Shoutouts: Fire Princess21, Still too lazy to log In, leogirl231, Genuinely-Unique, thearistocrat, rero-chan, Reiya Sumeragi, kawaiinekochan16, caelumnoctis23, PancakeRave, rinnie123, Pinkage, Chibari-Nii

No I'm not dead! I'm alive and kicking, just completely buried in assessments…if I ever set a deadline for a new chapter please don't get your hopes up, I'm probably the world's biggest procrastinator. So I bought my own electric guitar, and I've taken up psychology as one of my courses in uni…I feel like I'm being consumed by my own fanfiction. Nah. But I am being consumed by The Hunger Games trilogy.

Chapter 9

Discover

They were nice people, Tsuna, Kyoko and their group of friends. Kurara felt kind of sad knowing she had missed out on having her own group of lifelong friends.

They all introduced themselves, invited her to join them for dinner, and the next thing she knew they took her in like a stray cat. Apart from daydreaming about her future with Hibari, along with worrying about Mukuro's next move, she had nothing else better to do, so why not enjoy her youth while she could. Even Tsuna, who Kurara initially thought was an awkward and friendless person, seemed to be much louder and social.

"Ku—I mean Masao, did you manage to find your classes alright?" Tsuna asked, seeming genuine this time. Kurara looked at him clueless. "You know, first day."

"Oh. OH. Yes I found my way but I wasn't looking for any classes," Kurara said, forgetting her job was rather degrading.

"Right, you must've just come a day early for a campus tour…"

"That's right," she lied.

Big mistake. Tsuna's most approachable-looking friend had a sudden epiphany. "Hey, aren't you that new janitor that all the girls have been talking about?"

She froze, stuttering quickly, "Y-You must be mistaking me for somebody else."

"No I'm sure, they told me she had pink hair."

"It's peach actually—I mean plenty of girls our age have crazy colours ahaha…"

"Actually, you were wearing the janitor's uniform when I first saw you!" Kyoko added, quite unnecessarily. Kurara thought she was meant to be the good one.

"I was just substituting for someone."

The one with a delinquent appearance then decided to hit a nail in Kurara's head, "Who'd believe such an obvious lie, nothing wrong with being a little too stupid to get into univ—" not before Haru interrupted angrily and hit Gokudera on the head. He shut up almost immediately.

"I'm sure she has her reasons, why don't we drop it!" Haru cried, she seemed offended for Kurara. Haru's outburst seemed to work, everybody quietened down, but what caught Kurara's attention was Gokudera's hurt expression. So that's how it was, he had a thing for Haru.

"It's fine, I'm a janitor. Might as well put it out there, I'm not butt-hurt or anything about it. I just moved here from Tokyo and Namimori U just happened to be nearby so I thought getting a job there would be most convenient." Although it was still far from the truth, it was at least only a half lie.

It seemed to work as everyone moved on with idle chatter and started asking Kurara about her life in Tokyo. She'd never really been asked to talk about herself – apart from job interviews and the usual – so she felt as if she was boasting about her not-so-interesting past. Sometimes she would get excited, and blabber on for a full two minutes which was pretty long for a quiet girl like herself. But then she would worry that she was boring them, and that they were judging her as an odd girl that wasn't worth their time, so she would stop mid-sentence and change the subject. In actual fact, they were very nice people (Gokudera was probably an exception) and they kept asking her questions and edging her to continue. For once in Kurara's life, she felt as if people enjoyed her company.

Time was lost, and before Kurara knew, she had made her first few friends since…who knows? She always categorised herself as a pure introvert, which was also her excuse for feeling awkward in social situations, but now she knew it was probably her insecurities that kept her from stepping outside her box.

Tsuna and the others slowly departed one by one as the hours moved on, until it was only the two of them alone, ready to head off the same direction. Their second time travelling together was much less uncomfortable than the first. They talked, at times they laughed, and there were even moments of silence, but everything came on the same level for the two of them in the end. Kurara finally parted ways with him once he left the elevator two levels before her and she was finally at peace when she lay on the floor beside her computer. To think her day began so terribly yet ended so wonderfully, maybe tomorrow would be even better. What could go wrong on a Sunday?

…..

….

…..

Nothing yet according to the weather reports on the internet, it was going to be all sunshine and blue skies. She had Nami—actually Hibari's music on blast and was browsing for a new job since he parents now cut off their financial support. Two jobs wasn't going to be too bad, she'd done it before, and to make it easier she was looking for something she was familiar with, like flower arranging or fast food. Actually this one didn't look to bad, she thought. She would be stuck with another cleaning job but the pay was quite nice and that was all that mattered. Apparently it was a cleaning company that mainly worked for the rich, no wonder rates were abnormally high, but that meant service with an abnormally large smile.

She called them, and they immediately arranged for a job interview in an hour. Kurara could tell they were desperate for staff, so this was probably going to be an easy grab. She poked around her box of unpacked clothes for her blouse and black skirt that had become her set uniform for every job interview she had to suffer through. It had worked in numerous occasions and failed in some, so it was far from being a lucky outfit – it was just something of personal significance.

The moment she stepped into the over-the-top, grand office, she knew there was going to be some major work cut out for her. The lady conducting the interview was very old fashion, more than a cleaning job this seemed like a company full of maids. She was right to guess that a majority of their clients were rich and powerful, because the lady in charge was utterly determined on drilling the idea of 'service with an exaggerated amount of niceness' in Kurara's head. She was told never to talk back, never to work overtime, never to work undertime, never to mingle with the clients, never to probe through their stuff, never to steal, never to question, never to over-compliment and especially never to get in their way. Yes it was basic stuff, but the fact she also put a great amount of emphasis on acting classy and polite, and always addressing the clients as 'master' or 'milady' gave her the impression she was going to have to put up with a lot of shit.

"Now let me tell you I don't do this every day. If we weren't so flooded with clients I doubt I'd ever give an uneducated lady like yourself this job. Our customers are top-notch, upper-class and from highly prestigious families, should you ruin your one opportunity…that's not even an option."

She just had to clean. Kurara had been doing it for years, how hard could it be? She cleans for an entire campus for god's sake, and what educated lady would want to be a cleaner anyway?

"Since you're not available weekday afternoons," the lady wrinkled her noise scornfully at Kurara like it was her fault she had another job, "You'll take the morning shifts on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays for Mr Ken. Then on Saturday you'll take the afternoon shift for Mr Hibari—hold on that's not right you're rostered for Mr Shibata."

"Excuse me, did you say Hibari?"

"I said Mr Shibata."

"I meant before that, you said Hibari didn't you?"

"And what if I did? That's none of your business. You're rostered for Mr Shibata. No complaints. I want you here first thing in the morning for a quick briefing before your first session."

Kurara meekly nodded, trying to brush his name away. There were plenty of people with the last name Hibari, but how many of them were pompous enough to hire overpriced cleaners? Did that mean Hibari was loaded with cash? Though it shouldn't surprise her, he was a Dean, lecturer, clinical psychologist and noted psychologist, and money doesn't come in small doses when you've achieved that much at such a young age (not to mention he was also a MyTube partner). But if this were the case, she had to be scheduled to clean for him, she just HAD TO. This was such a great opportunity to learn more about him without having to trespass illegally. No matter, she would figure something out by Monday morning, perhaps she could try crying and begging for extra shifts on Saturdays.

Daytime still lingered, at least for the next half day, so Kurara decided she deserved one last round of shopping and free time before her life became hectic. The cash that was stuffed inside her tiny purse was from her parent's final deposit of financial support. She was going to splurge every last cent and she meant it quite literally.

She went down town and found the biggest mall in Namimori and started from there. Kurara wasn't really the biggest clothes shopper, she preferred to loiter around music, video and book stores, but it wouldn't hurt to add new additions to her limited wardrobe – just this once. When she was still in middle school, there was a time when her and her small group of friends would park themselves outside an adorable boutique. The inside was coated with every pink you could imagine, and their collection consisted of frills, laces, animals and candy. Kurara was the only one that scrunched her nose whenever she looked inside. It wasn't that she didn't like girly fashion, it was just that the price tags were lethal, and she was really anal about spending money. Her friends thought she was just being a tomboy. Nevertheless, she's lost contact with every one of them.

And so inside the mall, she found herself one of those severely girly boutiques and forced herself to blur out the prices. It wasn't easy at first, but eventually she found herself holding up a midnight blue baby doll dress with cap sleeves. It certainly didn't look like it belonged to this store, but something about this dress kept her staring at it for eternity.

"Miss that would look adorable on you!" cried a voice that startled Kurara from behind. It was a shop assistant, and after a short five minutes of complimenting and coaxing, Kurara finally gave in and bought the dress. She held it timidly in an overdecorated, pink bag they had given her. Never in her life had she bought a dress for herself. The few dresses she owned were all handpicked by her mother. She was satisfied with the purchase, even if it did steal half of the cash she had on hand, there was this sense of achievement of having a dress she could now call her favourite – as stupid as that sounded.

She left the boutique with a blush across her cheeks. Now she could spend on the usual things, and she'd also have to leave some money for grocery shopping. Kurara spotted a bookstore right in front, and just as she was about to head inside the most unexpected thing happened. As if she hadn't seen enough of him, Hibari came out with a book in one hand and a phone in his other, the latter pressed against his ear. He looked pissed (when did he ever not), and was walking away quickly. Kurara's immediate instinct was to follow him out the mall. Actually followed wasn't the right word – she was chasing him at full speed. She couldn't quite catch what he was hissing through his phone, but it looked like the direction they were headed for was to whoever was on the other end of the line. Hibari was striding effortlessly through the string of crowds, whilst Kurara had trouble keeping herself off the concrete ground. She hugged the flamboyant bag with her dress, making sure not to lose it, but when she finally caught up with Hibari, she dropped the bag as if it meant nothing.

"No way…" she muttered, gobsmacked and at loss for words. She had followed him a long way, a very, very, very long way. How did she know this? Because she was standing right in the middle of the unknown, a place she had never set foot in since the day she was born. Rowdy but discreet, it was the red-light district of Namimori.

These places were alien to her, and it wasn't like Tokyo didn't have its own collection of red-light's, but the whole country knew Namimori had the worst reputation. It had something to do with it being the holiday base for mafia from all around the world to congest. Why Namimori? That was a question she'd like answered, but whatever the case may be, she did not want to be here. This city seemed to have extreme upsides and downsides.

Back to the situation, Kurara had just digested what happened. Hibari was hurrying inside a brothel, and frankly, she wanted no part of whatever business he had inside. If the reason he was being snappy on the phone was because he was angry with his last purchase, then Kurara wished she never followed him in the first place. Her first reaction was disappointment, followed by anger and betrayal, but then she thought: who am I to judge? It was his life, she had nothing to do with him (yet), and he was – in the end – a healthy young man. It's just…she didn't expect Hibari to be like every other male specimen, he was meant to be her prince charming. She bit her tongue and chewed on it for a while, standing outside a brothel, her feelings in a hot mess.

"Hey cutie," whispered a jumbled voice. Kurara whipped around, afraid she was about to be kidnapped and sold, given the same fate as the many girls inside the building before her. It was a young man, late twenties, his face frail and sallow. There was a handsome face behind the unshaven stubble and wild hair, Kurara guessed this is what people called a gigolo. "I'll give you a good rate."

Kurara shook her head, turned on her heel and ran off in the opposite direction.

"Stupid bitch," the tipsy gigolo muttered. He picked up Kurara's forgotten bag and peered inside of it, "Pretty dress for such an ugly girl, looks expensive." Feeling the hem and rubbing the material, he decided he would keep it and sell it to his next client for an outrageous price, until someone snatched it from his hands.

"HEY give that back—" he took a fist to the face and he fell on his rear. He felt his shirt tug tightly around his neck, but not enough to choke him. He was elevated off the ground, where he met eye to eye with dull-grey irises.

"Who was that girl?" With eyes like a hawk, Hibari snarled.

"Jesus, I don't know…" he took another punch to the face. "I-I really don't know! Honest!" but the unchanging expression of Hibari told him his face would become a pulp if he didn't give some useful answers soon. "She was skinny, had weird pink-orange hair and seemed a bit out of it!"

Hibari let go of him. He flexed his fingers, then picked up the pink bag again. The owner would be looking for it, he assumed, so why not return it to her tomorrow? He was sure she would be ecstatic to see it again, especially in his hands.