A/N: Like always, I'm very happy with all of your reviews, guys. However, there's something I want to let this 'Guest' reviewer know.
Dear 'Guest'-san:
As you see, both my beta-reader (Unknown-Alice) and I, are not so happy with the reviews you have given to us. Well, we do appreciate them, but, we are not happy to see you spamming our story. We do wanted to get more reviews, but it's not right for you to do that. If you're just trying to make us happy or hoping to see more chapters, then please stop because we will still update no matter how little reviews we have. We're not some review whores. I've been deleting most of the reviews like… 40 of them? Please, this is a gentle warning; we didn't mean to be harsh on you. However, if you ignore our warning and continue to spam this story, please don't blame us 'cause we will disable the anonymous reviews. That's all, thanks for reading it. ^v^
As for the other reviews, thanks, we really appreciate the reviews you had given to us! :)
Chapter #3- Simply Beautiful
"Mukuro-sama doesn't want to see you, go back byon!"
Chrome flinched at the cold tone used by Ken. The purplenette gripped on her precious trident as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Hot tears slowly forming on her good violet left eye but she tried so hard to not let them fall. 'I must stay strong… I must stay strong… I-I had promised Hibari-san I won't cry no matter how hard it is.' She kept on telling herself in her mind. The skylark had asked her to make a promise that she won't cry anymore. She had looked at him with widened violets when he told her to make such a promise before but the purplenette had promised him, and she will never break the promise.
Slap!
A stinging pain came across her cheek as her body was sent flying to the wall a few metres away from her. The pain was unbearable as her sick body hit the wall with a loud 'bam' and slowly slid down against the wall weakly.
"Didn't you hear what Ken just told you? Mukuro-chan doesn't want to meet you! Go away, you ugly bitch! Mukuro-chan doesn't love you, he loves only me!" the too familiar wicked voice rang in her ears. She unconsciously bit on her lips, so hard it's going to bleed, but still she refused to let the tears slipping down from her violets.
"Didn't you hear me, you weak girl? Mukuro-chan doesn't want you, he abandoned you and had chosen me instead! Now get lost and never come back here anymore!"
Chrome exhaled a weak, ragged breath as the breathing ceased and she slowly gaze up at M.M who had both of her hands on her hips while her face was distorted in pure fury.
"I-I just wanted to see Mukuro-sama for a f-few minutes…" The sick girl pleaded in a quiet voice, with a tiny bit of hope.
"Are you particularly deaf or what? Your precious Mukuro-sama doesn't want to see you, you piece of shit!" Chrome's grip on her trident tightened as she fought against the stinging pain in her heart at her words that struck her like knives.
"Don't get fooled by his sweet words," the short haired girl lowered her voice and used her sweet voice, a tone that sent shivers running down her spine.
"Mukuro-chan was just using you as a tool. You're completely useless to him now and that's why he abandoned you."
The female illusionist lifted herself on her feet weakly and tried to face the other girl who stood proudly in front of her, winching at the pain that came with the movement. "M-Mukuro-sama would never say anything like tha-"
"Shut the hell up! Your voice is annoying me!" M.M swiftly kicked her trembling legs and the female illusionist dropped to the cold floor roughly as she couldn't block the attack. Her body felt so limp and cold sweat kept running down from her forehead as she gathered her strength to stand once again. The short haired girl sent a foot straight on her chest, square in her heart. Violet eyes widened as she coughed a few times and clutched on her chest in pain, tears brimming in her eyes but she still fought the urge to cry. She had promised and wouldnever shed a tear because of someone like her…
"M.M! You're going too far!" she heard Ken yelled. But the red head wasn't listening as she used all her strength to make another kick to her stomach. Chrome could feel her bones cracking and immediately threw up a mouthful of thick dark blood out onto the wooden floor. Crimson trailing down the edge of her lips as she lay, weak on the floor with the last bit of her strength leaving her body.
"You disgust me." The clarinet user hissed for the last time before turned around and leaving the injured purplenette. Ken looked at the female illusionist, his gaze lingering on her for a moment before he turned on his feet with his brows furrowed together. He only clicked his tongue as he tried to hide the pained feeling that came as he saw the purplenette all beaten up on the floor. As for Chikusa, he kept on his usual emotionless expression as he kneels in front of Chrome, gazing at her for a while before wiping the blood away from the edge of her lips.
"Chrome… don't ever come back here again. You belong with the Vongola now…"
The purple head startled awake as she heard her phone ringing and stuttered to grab on it before snapping her head to the other illusionist who looked like he was still sleeping soundlessly on his seat. She raised a brow suspiciously and squeaked as the phone vibrated once again in her hands before she hurriedly brought it up to her ears.
"H-Hello?" Chrome said hesitantly as she didn't even bother to check the caller's name.
"Herbivore, where are you?" The skylark asked impatiently from the other end of the line.
"K-Kyoya!" Chrome immediately lit up as she heard the familiar voice of the cloud guardian, not noticing the other mist guardian who twitched in irritation at the name that came out of her lips.
"I'm in the Vongola private airplane now and arriving at Sicily soon." Chrome said happily as she looked out of the window, noticing the beautiful scenery that was nearing Sicily.
"….Are you on a mission with 'him'?"
He muttered lowly and Chrome flinched at the tone. It's been a long time since she'd heard him being truthfully angry before, thought a lot of people say that the Skylark was always irritated, she never thought of him as a 'scary' person.
"W-What do you mean? I-I came to Sicily for a n-negotiation with another famiglia." The purplenette bit her lips nervously as she lied to the skylark. She didn't want her bossu be 'bitten to death' because of her but the purplenette never lied to the Skylark before. There was a few moment of silence as she waited for the cloud guardian's reply.
"...I see." He uttered softly and Chrome couldn't resist the smile tugging on her lips.
"Thanks for worrying about me, Kyoya."
"Hn." He simply said before cutting the line.
~Meanwhile~
The cloud guardian put the phone away in his pockets as he glared dangerously at the brunette who was pinned against the wall with a tonfa on his throat. He winced as the skylark brought his weapon up dangerously and that it was starting to choke him.
"Hibari-san...this is not the time to—" The brunette chocked out but was cut off by a cold tone by none other than his very own cloud guardian.
"Shut up, herbivore." He hissed. Tsuna gritted his teeth and held the tonfa with a hand before shifting it away from his throat with all his strength. The decimo fell to his knees and coughed from lack of air before turning his gaze up at the cloud guardian.
"Even if you bite me to death, you know that he'll do anything to be with Chrome again….even if I said 'no'."
Tsuna said as he recalled the mix-matched orbs that stared at the purplenette as she entered the office this morning. He had never seen the mist guardian with those eyes that reflected so much care and pain at the same time. But the brunette didn't need his hyper intuition to know all that. He could only see 'love' in those eyes that used to hold so much malice and only evil intent to the mafia world.
"She needs to face him someday, Hibari-san, and you know it." Tsuna said.
Hibari 'Tch'ed before turning on his feet and walking away from the mafia boss. Tsuna could only sigh as he watched the aloof guardian left his sight. The brunette had no choice but to give Mukuro a chance after seeing the expression on his face before. His hyper intuition was telling him that the male illusionist had a reason for his actions and the intuition had never failed him before….
"W-What? Just one room for the both of us a-and a single double-sized bed? B-but I thought we had already booked two rooms before!" Her voice trembled as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. This is bad…VERY bad. It seems like luck isn't on her side as she kept on encounter something she wished to never happen.
"We're really sorry, miss. But we're just following what was written on the booking information we got." The man spoke.
"W-What? T-There has to be some mistake! Please! Just give us two separate rooms!" Chrome pleaded.
"We're very sorry but the hotel had been over-booked." The counter girl apologized and Chrome mentally cursed at her bad luck.
"T-Then please at least give us an extra bed!"
"Uhm, sure, hold on for a sec— e-eh…I'm sorry, Chrome-san, but there appear to be none of the extra beds left either…" the counter girl apologized once again and Chrome seriously thought that the Gods out there really hate her very much by now.
"T- Then could you please at least tell me if there's any other hot-" The female illusionist was cut off by the creepy laugh of Mukuro.
"Oya, oya~ sharing a bed with me doesn't sound that bad, my dear Chrome~" The pineapple head smirked as he grabbed the key on the counter. "You can even complain to your beloved if you want to~"
Chrome glared at the cunning illusionist. Of course she wouldn't want to trouble the brunette and he must have known that she would never blame her bossu! It must have something to do with him…he must have done something behind all of these!
Chrome sat on the edge of the bed as her eyes occasionally shifted to the shower. The purplenette could hear the sound of water dripping from the bathroom and it didn't even help that she couldn't keep herself calm for some reason. Mukuro had demanded that he want to take a bath for it's been a few days since he had taken a nice shower. Being her usual clean self, Chrome allowed him to take a bath while she could only wait for him on her seat.
"What am I… supposed to do?" The female illusionist asked herself as she brushed her locks of purple hair softly with her hand.
"I've already given a call to the clerk just now but it looks like the hotels around here are all full." She let out a long sigh.
"Even if I slept on the floor, there weren't even enough blankets….hold on, WHY MUST I LET HIM GET THE BED?!" She exclaimed before ruffling her hair, all the while making sure she's still sane.
"What the hell is with this?!"
Chrome jumped when she heard the usual calm illusionist screamed. Mukuro walked out from the bathroom in a white bathrobe that wrapped around his body tightly.
"This is unbelievable!" he growled angrily. "It's way too small!"
Chrome stared at him for a while and blinked. She held up a hand over her mouth and stifled a laugh. It wasn't long before she burst out laughing and clutching her dear stomach.
"Oh god… I'm going to die from laughing now! Gosh… W-Where's my camera? You look so stupid!" The purplenette fell on the bed from her laughing fit.
Mukuro frowned in irritation at the laughing purple head. "Are you done laughing?"
"S-Sorry, I didn't meant to laugh at you…" she giggled and wiped the tears forming in the corner of her eyes from her laugh. Chrome stood up and walked to the closet. As she expected, there was another set of wardrobe in the closet. The purplenette grab it before walking towards the male illusionist and smiling brightly as she held out the piece of clothing.
"Here's the spare one" She grinned and the pineapple head blushed at her smile and scratched his cheeks sheepishly.
"Maybe the one you're wearing is the small one?" she placed a hand on her chin before wrapping the cloth around his body. "Perhaps this one might fit you…"
Mukuro stared down at her and a warm smile crept up his features. There was a strange light in his mix-matched eyes that softened at the sight of the purplenette. The purplenette looked up as she finished adjusting the cloth and her violets met with his eyes for a moment. Silence filled the room as both illusionist gazes at the other without a word. The purplenette snapped out of her daze and turned away from him.
"A-Ah, sorry. It seemed like the size is also the same." Chrome stuttered as she quickly turned around with a pink blush creeping up her cheeks.
"N-now that we've settled down...we should really start on our job." Chrome started off as she took out a purple file from her bag and browsing through the contents, hoping to distract herself from the pineapple head.
"Kufufu~ I wonder what the Vongola could possibly want us to do?" Mukuro asked with a tone of amusement. The purplenette glared at the other illusionist with the mention of her boss but decided to continue flipping through the papers. Her violets caught sight of the details for the mission and she read it carefully.
"It seems...that bossu wants us to find some information on the enemy family before making our move." Chrome muttered silently.
"Oya? Is it such a powerful family that we need to be cautious of? It's really rare for the guardians to be sent for such a menial task." The pineapple head said with a smirk. It's true that gathering of any information regarding any famiglia backgrounds and details would usually be done by the other subordinates in the Vongola. The guardians would then pass on the punishments on them if needed or for other important matters like negotiations with another family and such.
"Like you'd know...you've been skipping on your work for years after all."
Chrome growled but the other illusionist didn't say a word in return like she thought he would. The purplenette glance from her work and raised a curious brow as she noticed the other illusionist sitting on the other edge of the bed with his mix-matched eyes avoiding her violets. Mukuro seemed to be in deep thoughts that he didn't even notice the other mist guardian staring at him as a sad smile graced his lips.
"I suppose you're right..."
He whispered solemnly. Chrome blinked, she didn't expect him to agree with her so easily without a sly reply or whatsoever like he usually does. The female illusionist decided to brush the thought away and passed the file to the other guardian.
"Let's get going." She said with a tired sigh while walking towards the door.
"Kufufufu~ before that...there's something you need to know about the mission. Sawada Tsunayoshi seemed to be really worried about you… "The pineapple head said as he watched the purplenette stopped on her tracks. She turned to find him holding the opened file with an evil grin on his face that could only meant one thing. She does not like where this is going.
"This one?" The purplenette said as she opened the curtains to the changing room. Mukuro sat on the seat across comfortably, scanning her from the top to her toes.
"The colors are too bright." He simply said and the female illusionist gritted her teeth before roughly pulling the curtains back, only to open it again the next moment.
"How about this?" Chrome said, quite confident that it fits her this time.
"Too plain. And if you even think it fits you in the slightest….it doesn't." He said while waving his hand away. Chrome could feel the edge of her lips twitching in irritation.
He didn't even look up from the files in his hand!
The purplenette grip on the fabric of the curtains and swore she heard a ripping sound.
"That. Is. It! This is probably the last clothes they have in the whole mall that I haven't tried!" She screamed in frustration.
"Well, you can't help it, my dear Chrome. None of these tasteless attires suit you."
He said with a hint of disgust as his mix-matched orbs eyed the pile of clothes strewn on the floor. The work details stated that Chrome should disguised herself without the use of her mist in case the enemy might detect her flames and that Mukuro didn't need to go through such troubles since he just returned, which means that no one could possibly recognize him anyways. So how did it lead to hours of searching through every single clothing store again?
"Why do I have to wear something you like? We could just grab some clothes and get this over with! Oh and stop talking as if I'm yours." She hissed. Mukuro sighed as he stood up, walking towards a pink haired girl who seemed to be one of the worker of the shop.
"Ciao, bella signora (Hello, beautiful lady)." The male illusionist greeted the girl with a fake, charming smile.
"S-Si? (y-yes?)…" the pink head managed to stutter out with a blush forming on her skinny cheeks.
Mukuro scratched his cheek as he pretended to look around the shop. "Mi potete aiutare per ottenere un abito classico che si adatta la signora laggiù? (Can you help me to get a classical dress that will suit the lady over there?)" Mukuro asked innocently and pointed his finger at Chrome. The pinknette looked at Chrome for a while before turning around and grabbed a short sleeved collar dark brown dress with a black denim belt hanging loosely around it.
"C-Come pensi di questa? (W-What do you think of this one?)" The lady said shyly.
Mukuro looked at the dress and gave an award winning smile at the shop worker that could make any girl squeal. "Perfecto, grazie. (Perfect, thanks)" The charming illusionist said and turned around, not before giving the girl a blow kiss that make her faint at the spot.
Chrome glared at the flirting illusionist from her spot. Her eyes slightly twitched when the girl fainted at the spot from the blow kiss Mukuro gave for her. She felt the urge to stab the pineapple head to death as he slowly walked towards her.
"Here, try on this one." Mukuro said as he showed Chrome the dark brown dress.
"You're kidding me..." Chrome said as her lips twitched in irritation as she pointed to the dress disgustingly. "You want ME to wear THAT?"
"Kufufu~ how smart of you, my dear Chrome. Now get changing, we have to get started on the mission given by your precious boss" Mukuro cackled evilly as he held up the clothes in hand.
"But I can't even fight properly in this stupid dress!" Chrome hissed as she crossed her arms together in annoyance.
"Oya? Do you perhaps want me to help you change? Because I'll be glad to do so..." Mukuro said as he stepped into the changing room. Chrome backed away as the male illusionist stood before her in the little space of the changing room. Mukuro placed a hand on the wall to the side of her head, preventing her from escaping and locking his mix-matched with violets. The pineapple head slowly leaned in closer to her face as she started to panic and fluster. The purplenette pushed him back as he stumbled out of the changing room with a sly smirk. Chrome hurriedly held the curtains together behind her and screamed.
"I-I CAN CHANGE IT MYSELF YOU PERVERT!" The purplenette could only hear a cackle from the other illusionist as she felt the heat creeping up her already reddening cheeks. But why is she blushing so much because of him?
"Okay… I swear I'm going to die of embarrassment when I stepped out!" the purplenette exclaimed from the changing room and Mukuro just smirked as he flipped another page of the file he is holding.
"Kufufufu~ not at all, my dear Chrome. I'm pretty sure that dress will suit you."
He heard a few cursing from the female illusionist before the curtain is being slowly opened.
"H-how is it…?" he heard Chrome stuttered and he looked up from the file he had been reading.
Mukuro forgot for a moment about the file he was reading, the noisy mall… he forgot everything when he saw the younger girl in front of him.
The color is a bit too dark for Chrome's pale skin; however, it suited Chrome in every way. The dress wrapped around her small body with great efficiency and it reached down 'till her knees. In another word, it almost reminds him about the younger self of Chrome wearing a brown colored Kokuyo high school uniform.
"So… how does it look? Should we keep looking again?"
"I-it's… amazing… it's just… very amazing." Mukuro tried to find his voice, but he couldn't find anything else to say. He had millions of compliments about the dress in his head, but he just couldn't even say them aloud!
Chrome blinked twice at his strange behavior but decided to ignore it. "Uh, then I guess we will be taking this one then…" she said and walked back into the changing room.
Mukuro made a few steps towards the fitting room's door and stood there as he waited for her to finish changing clothes. He covered his face with his left palm as he tried to hide the sad expression on his face.
"She… looked so much like her younger self…"
"Seriously, we had wasted two hours to search for some damn clothes!" Chrome exclaimed as she fixed the collar of her new dress. Mukuro showed her an innocent look that had the word 'I did nothing wrong~' bolding on his face. Chrome 'tch'ed as she rubbed her forehead. This mission is much more tiresome than she thought.
"And now, can we start with the miss-"
"We're buying you another new pair of shoes." Mukuro cut her off and Chrome felt the urge to pull out her trident and stab him.
"Pardon please but I don't think we're coming to Sicily for shopping!" Chrome yelled angrily as she gritted her teeth. She is not going to buy some stupid shoes now! She just wants to quickly end up this mission so she could go back!
"But that pair of shoes you're wearing looked a bit old." Mukuro tried to reason, but it only make Chrome angrier.
"Can you just shut up so we could start working?!" Chrome said in a dangerous tone, her face had the word 'If you don't shut up, don't blame me for hurting you.' bolding on her face.
"Ugh…" the purplenette groaned as she massaged her shoulders. "I'm so tired…" she muttered as she flipped through a small note pad. "And in the end, we didn't even get enough useful information." She thought to herself as she scribbled a few notes into the note pad.
She turned around and looked at the male illusionist. His clothes were all soaked and he was shivering in cold.
Flashback, this evening
"Excuse me sir" Chrome said politely as she approached a guy. They were in a park in the outer part of the city and figured that it's best to find out information from a less crowded place in case the enemy ambushed them. They wouldn't want to handle the cleaning up afterwards and Tsuna had ordered them to strictly not involve any innocent people in their mission. The person Chrome asked was a typically passerby and she thought that he looked quite normal. Well, as 'normal' as a girl working for the most powerful mafia family in the world thought he'd be...
"Ahh?" The man with a horrifying scar across his face said as he scowls at the purplenette.
"Do you by chance belong to the mafia?" Chrome asked as she tilted her head with a smile.
"I am, and you'd better run before I take out my gun, little girl."
The man smirked evilly as he watched the female illusionist, expecting her to scream out in horror and ran for her life as people would usually do with such threats. Though she had instead, replied the man with a bright smile, happy that she could finally get some leads on the mission.
"That's great!" She chirped while the man twitched in irritation thinking why she hadn't cry or begged for her life like most people would always do. Chrome took out a picture from her pockets and shoved it in front of his face.
"Have you heard of the 'Pescha' famiglia?"Chrome said as the man's eyes widened.
"W-Where have you heard about them!" He took a step back as his face was as pale as sheet.
"You really don't?" The purplenette asked again, making sure not to let any information slipped by.
"E-Even in the mafia world, they're said to have killed thousands and their boss even have the guts to send assassins to kill the V-V-Vongola Decimo!"
Chrome blinked as the man stuttered the name of her innocent and kind hearted boss in fear.
"You better forget about finding them girlie, they're always killing people behind their backs...a 'silent assassination'." The man warned as he walked away from the purplenette, not wanting to get involved with anyone who knew of the famiglia's name. Chrome sighed as she was finally alone once more.
'No wonder bossu looked sleepy these few days...they must've tried to assassinate him at night but failed miserably since there's not even a scratch on his suit...Those guys just don't know when to give up, do they?'
"'Silent assassination' huh? ...I need to watch my back from now on-" Chrome muttered to herself but was cut off as a hand pat on her shoulder. She instinctively grabbed the hand and threw her attacker over to the lake beside her. The purplenette grabbed on her trident and glared at the figure on the lake.
"Ugh...I didn't know you learned martial arts too..." The other mist guardian groaned as he slowly stood while her violets widened at the familiar voice.
"Y-You...why are you here, you pervert? I thought I told you to look for more information in other parts of the city!" Chrome glared at the pineapple head as she crossed her arms together.
"I did. But all of them just screamed or pretend they know nothing of the family and now...I'm soaked." Mukuro said as he grabbed on his clothes with a frown, noticing how the fabric was stuck to his body.
"You were the one who suddenly came up on me..." Chrome muttered under her breath though the pineapple head heard that.
"I was just worried since I hadn't heard about you in hours." He said with a straight face.
"W-Wha-You don't need to worry about me you idiot!" Chrome said as she turned on her heels, warmth creeping up her cheeks.
End of Flashback
"Well, it's my fault after all…" she thought as a sweat drop formed on her forehead.
"Hey, Chrome…" the male illusionist suddenly called. Chrome turned around and looked at him in question. She was surprised at his sudden seriousness. "Can you… call my name?" Mukuro asked, his mix matched orbs stared deeply into her shock violets.
To be continued.
Ending Note: :3 Nufufufufufu~ are you curious at what will happen next? Then, review! Reviews make us happy, but we are not review whore, okay? ;) Oh, and just a few things I'll like to make it clear.
Chrome's hairstyle: As asked by one of the reviewer, Chrome doesn't have her 'pineapple'-hairstyle anymore. Right now, her hair is long and wavy (like when she's still Nagi). Oh, she also doesn't have an eye-patch on her right eye. She had taken it off.
Pescha familgia: My beta-reader found out that it's the familgia that tried to kill Tsuna in the Inheritance chapter.
Do you hate M.M with burning passion in this chapter? Well, kept your anger. Because she will kept appearing in the story sooner! But of course~ I won't let her go so easily after what she had done to Chrome during Future arc. Mwahhahahaha~
