Chrome's Brother: Fast Forward

Part 21

July 26th, Kumoru's Birthday!

By Blockhed13

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! ™

Author's note: As you might've been able to tell, Kumoru's birthday is today! Hence why I'm writing and posting this on the same day. He turns 2 today! It has been exactly 2 years since I created the character Kumoru Dokuro. If anyone wants to do fan art, do tell me! I LOVE fan art! (Or any art, for that matter. I've never had a fan do art for me without me requesting it.) And review! I love reviews! I wish I got ten every day! Please review! Anyways, special chapter! His birthday! Just so you know, this chapter is a oneshot, implying there is no second part to it. Plus, this takes place in present KHR time, not TYL. This chapter does nothing to contribute to the current story, this is just a special side story.

What is going on? I woke up today, and Chrome was gone. Ken and Chikusa didn't see where she went, nor do they really care. This is rather unusual for me, because she hardly ever leaves Kokuyo land; and if she does, she usually invites me to come along.

It's actually kind of worrisome. Especially the last time she left without telling anyone. She came back possessed!

I slipped into my green uniform jacket, slung my bag over my shoulder, and ran out of Kokuyo land.

"Where could she be?" I asked myself, "Where does she like to go?"

Namimori shopping center.

As I got there, I looked around in the crowd; nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps she's at her favorite cake shop!

I walked casually to the fabulous cake shop, and I didn't find her. But I did see Kyoko looking at cakes….?

I approached her, "Uhh, Kyoko-chan?"

She quickly turned around, startled, "Ah! Kumoru-san!"

I backed up, "Sorry! Did I scare you?"

Kyoko calmed down, "No, no, just surprised. I…. Didn't expect you here!" she looked around nervously.

I raised an eyebrow, "I'm looking for Chrome…. Have you seen her?"

"Umm…" She looked at the window, "…Yeah! I thought I saw her in one of the stores at the other end of the mall. I'll show you."

Huh. She's acting suspiciously. But, as long as I find my sister, I don't really care.

She took me on a forty-five minute walk, stopping at a couple stores by the various knick-knacks they had in the window. But finally reached the end of the shopping center.

"Umm…. That store!" Kyoko pointed without looking. I looked at it, scratched the back of my head, and looked away.

"Umm…. Kyoko-chan…. I don't really think Chrome goes to lingerie stores…." I awkwardly informed.

Kyoko looked over, "Eep! No! I mean…. That one!"

She pointed to a liquor store, "You mean…. You don't know."

"No, no, I know! She's here in this mall! I… Think." Kyoko tried.

"…So you don't know." I sighed.

"No! She is in this mall!" She nodded.

I shrugged, "I'll take your word for it. I guess we have to check every store."

"…Yeah! That's a great idea Ku-san!" Kyoko smiled as she pulled out her cell phone, and texted.

I narrowed my brows, "What's going on?"

Kyoko looked up, "Hm? Oh, nothing. It's…" She looked down at her phone, then back up at me, "Just Hana… She wants to arrange a movie day."

"Oh." I relaxed. Whatever.

We peeked in just about every store at the shopping center, and we didn't find Chrome in any of them. It took us about two hours, because I kept losing track of Kyoko in the stores.

We finally reached the front of the shopping center.

"Oh…. I guess Chrome wasn't here after all…." Kyoko sighed.

I felt… A little uneasy. What happened to Chrome? Where is she? Is she okay? Did something happen to her? Was she captured again?

Kyoko looked at my worried face, "Ku-san, what's wrong?"

I shook my head and smiled, "Nothing, nothing." I probably shouldn't be so worrisome of Chrome missing. She'll probably be back.

Kyoko looked back to her phone, and back up, "Do you think Chrome would've gone to Tsu-kun's house?"

I shrugged my brows, "I don't know. It's worth a shot."

"Okay!" she smiled and started walking to Tsuna's house, and I followed.

We finally showed up to Tsuna's house, and we walked up the front path. Kyoko crouched down and started to tie one of her shoes.

"Go on ahead, Ku-san."

I nodded, and knocked on the door.

The door cracked open.

I looked back at Kyoko.

"Go."

I shrugged, and opened the door.

"SURPRISE!" Screamed many voices, which made me jump back a bit.

I looked up and saw everyone. Tsuna, Haru, Nana, Reborn, Bianchi, Lambo, Yamamoto…. Gokudera? Fuuta, Ryohei, I-Pin, and even Lussaria?

I didn't really think too much about everyone else, but I was more than overjoyed at the sight of Chrome! She was all right and smiling at me! I've never seen her smile like that before either! But, there's something visually about her that I can't quite put my finger on it.

Chrome walked up to me and hugged me, "Happy birthday, Ku-kun!"

"Thank you…" I let go of her and smiled at everyone, then my facial expression went from happy, to puzzled, "Birthday?"

"Remember when you were training with CEDEF?" Reborn reminded. I nodded, "One of the things they found out about you is your birthday. Which is July 26th."

"Today…" I realized. I thought about my whole day so far. Then I remembered all of what was going on; Chrome was gone before I was awake, I investigated. When I bumped into Kyoko, she was at the cake shop picking out a cake for me. She was more than surprised when I showed up, because she never expected me. Then she dragged me across the mall to stall me, taking as much time as possible to delay me even longer, while texting Haru where we are. But why did she delay me three hours? And why at Tsuna's house?

Nana smiled, and looked at everyone, "Who's ready for a birthday lunch?"

"Lambo-san is! Lambo-san is!" Lambo chanted, then blew on a party whistle.

I chuckled, "I think we all are."

"Alright! Everyone to the dining room!" Nana hyped, and everyone followed behind me.

I think the reason they needed the three hours was to make all this food! It tastes second-to-none good! And Fuuta confirmed that too!

I finished my plate, and looked around at everyone, "Whose idea was this?"

Chrome smiled and waved, "Reborn told me your birthday a while ago, and I realized it was pretty close."

"She got together with Haru and I, and we planned your birthday since Monday." Kyoko chimed.

"And today we bought all the things Nana needed to make this meal!" Haru informed.

I looked around at everyone else, "What did you guys do?"

"Oh, uhh…" Tsuna stuttered, "Haru told us yesterday. We all went out and bought gifts for you. And we wrapped them all today while my Mom was cooking."

"You all bought me gifts?" I looked around, shocked, at everyone.

"Mmhm." Yamamoto hummed.

I looked at Gokudera, "Even you?"

Gokudera looked up at me, "Ah, yes! The tenth was doing so, so I did as well!"

I shrugged, "Okay," my eyes trailed over to Lussaria, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh! Ku-chan's birthday? I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Lussaria cheered, "I'm here on summer vacation, and I bumped into the girls while they were ordering a cake for you. I asked how you were, and they told me your birthday was on Thursday! So, here I am!"

I smiled, "It's nice to see you again!"

After we ate a nice, large lunch; Nana brought out the cake.

Hahah! It was a lovely chocolate cake with a smiling pineapple iced on it.

I looked at Chrome, "…Mukuro-sama wanted a part in your birthday."

I laughed, "The cake was his idea?"

Chrome nodded. I couldn't stop smiling over the hilarity of the cake, "Let's eat some cake."

After everyone was finished, everyone piled into the living room. There were several wrapped gifts on the table that sat in front of me. I sat on the couch, Chrome sat next to me, and Lussaria did everything in his power to sit on the other side of me, and shoved a box in my hand.

"Open mine first! Open mine first!" he begged. I opened it.

It was a ring of the Chrome skull that's on my eye patch.

"Aww, thanks big bro-"

"Big sister!" he corrected.

I nodded, "Big sister."

"You left one of your eye patches at the base, so I used that as a reference!" he explained

"…Okay, next present."

I picked up a black box wrapped in orange ribbon. The box looks like something Reborn would give to me. I checked the tag. What are the odds, it is from Reborn!

I opened it up, and pulled out a gun, "Reborn…?"

"It's a Walter PPK. The preferred gun of James Bond." Reborn smiled.

I looked at him, "You got me a REAL gun?"

"Of course not." He answered.

I pointed the gun at one of the presents and pulled the trigger. A suction-cup dart flew out and landed exactly where I was pointing, "Cute. I guess I'll take that gift next." I reached the gift that the dart landed on and reloaded the gun. It was wrapped wrinkly, with a lot of tape used; and had a smaller, more narrow gift taped on to that.

"That's from me, Lambo, and I-Pin!" Fuuta happily informed.

"Lambo-san wrapped it!" Lambo informed proudly. I didn't let the poor wrapping job make my decision. I ripped open the smaller gift that was taped onto the larger one. It was a green aluminum pen. I opened the attached gift, and it was a thick green notebook.

"You can write or draw in it!" I-Pin happily informed.

"Aww…. Thanks guys." I smiled, and picked up another box. This one was wrapped in yellow paper and white ribbon. Tag says it's from Haru and Kyoko.

I ripped off the paper and ribbon and opened the box. I pulled out a wad of purple and blue tissue paper, and inside was a stuffed Chinchilla, and it had a little tag on a ribbon wrapped around its' neck. The tag had a Chinchilla on it, and the Japanese letters "幸福," which translates to "Happiness." I smiled, "Raio… Hahah! Thanks you two."

"No problem!" Haru and Kyoko chanted.

I picked up a neatly wrapped package wrapped in red. It feels a bit like a book. Tag says it's from Bianchi. I opened in, and it was a cookbook. How…. Useful.

"Open it." She requested. I opened it and looked at some of the recipes.

"What…. On…. When does any recipe need… Arsenic?" I puzzled. I flipped the book over, it's a poison cookbook! "Oh… Thanks Bianchi."

I quickly grabbed another gift. This one was wrapped in orange wrapping paper, and the tag says it's from Ryohei. I opened it, and inside was a pair of green boxing gloves, "We should box to the extreme sometimes, eh?"

"Yes! Extremely!" Ryohei fired up.

"…Alright." I picked up another gift. It was wrapped in silver wrapping paper, and the tag says it's from Gokudera and Yamamoto. I opened it, and it was a hundred-dollar gift card to Takesushi, Yamamoto's dad's restaurant.

"Oh, thanks guys!" I thanked. Yamamoto smiled, and Gokudera grunted.

"That was very nice, Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto." Tsuna acknowledged.

"It was Gokudera's idea."

"Yes! Isn't it a great one tenth?" Gokudera smiled

Tsuna nodded.

I grabbed the next gift, this one was in white wrapping paper, and the tag says it's from Tsuna. I opened it, and it was dark blue shirt with a white number "9" tilted on it.

"Thanks, Tsuna."

He shot a smile my way, and I grabbed my last gift on the table.

It was in blue wrapping paper, and the tag says it's from Nana. I tore open the wrapping paper, and inside was a plain green jacket. It was the proper shade of green that matched my uniform.

"I was a worried you were cold at night." Nana concerned. I smiled.

"I'm fine, but thanks for the thought Nana." I thanked. I looked back at the table, "Looks like I'm out of gifts-"

Chrome poked something at my arm. Ah! Her gift! How could I forget? I accepted her gift. It was a small box in dark green wrapping paper with a gold ribbon wrapped around it. I opened it, and inside was a Chrome skull, much like the ring that Lussaria gave me, and Chrome's eye pa- Wait! That's what was missing! I knew there was something different about Chrome. Her eye patch is completely black. She didn't have the skull on it. I pulled it out, and a long-ish black leather cord followed.

"Oh… You made a necklace for me from your eye patch emblem!"

Chrome smiled and lightly nodded. I wrapped an arm around her and hugged her.

"Thanks… It means a lot to me." I smiled back.

She embraced the hug, "I hope you had a happy birthday."

I put the necklace around my neck, "Best birthday I've had so far."