Fan Fiction: Disciplinary Action: MukuroChromeHibari
Title: Disciplinary Action
Author: BlueQuartz
Series: KHR
Pairing: Mukuro/Chrome/Hibari
Rating: PG-13/T
Warning: Mild sensuality
Notes: 2 years after canon, making Chrome about 15
-
A summer breeze caressed a carpet of grass and wild flowers. A blue sky above them, bed of green at their feet. This is where they first met, before 'Nagi' became Chrome. For almost three years, the wildflower field had been 'their' place and only theirs.
Which is why it came as a mild shock when Mukuro to spy another figure occupying Elysian. After only a moment of looking to the intruder, then up to the blue sky to watch clouds gathering, Mukuro smirked.
Looking back at the boy, Mukuro recognized the jacket, the red fabric pinned to a right sleeve and a fluffy yellow bird perched on the teenager's shoulder. One didn't have to be a genius to put two and two together. However, superior intellect was required for the delicate web he was scheming to weave.
“Who is this, Chrome?”
The purple haired girl tilted her head, hands all but hidden in thick grass. Slender legs stretched out before her, frail body covered by a thin white cotton dress, feet bury so as to be kissed by dew-dotted grass. A single violet colored eye stared up her master, “Who, Mukuro-sama?” Chrome questioned in return.
“This...boy standing in our field.” Mukuro said schooling his tone to sound a mix of caution and curiosity.
Chrome twisted around to stare in the direction Mukuro was looking. His gaze gravitated away from the curious intruder in the distance, now watching Chrome's expression change. Like him, she too seemed surprised to find Hibari there. Then the significance of his identity dawned on her. Cheeks flushed with color, Chrome turned her gaze back at Mukuro.
“It's...Cloud Man. I don't know why he's here.”
Mukuro skillfully switched from 'curious' to 'furious'. Wrinkles creased his forehead, lips fixed in a stern line, a noticeable sharpness in his mismatched gaze.. Chrome searched his eyes for comfort in his red and blue eye, since his face lacked compassion.
“I think I know.” Moving fluidly, Mukuro bent down to pick up his green jacket, shrugging it onto his shoulders.
“Apparently, I'm not enough for you, Chrome. I suppose it was only a matter of time. You are a young woman, so naturally your thoughts turn to boys you can see and touch in person.” Scandalized, the girl shook her head, “N-no that's not it! Mukuro-sama, I honestly don't know why he's here! You have to believe me...”
Like a butterfly flapping it's wings dangerously close to a spider's webbing, Chrome inched towards the trap set for her.
“Since it's obvious you don't need me Chrome, maybe I should leave.”
“No!” the girl exclaimed, rising to her feet. Fists clenched his jacket, the girl begged “Mukuro-sama, you've got it all wrong. I would never...he...please you have to believe me! Don't go.”
Normally, the most hardened man would be putty when a shivering terrified woman gripped them. Mukuro was far from normal. Where someone else might have embraced the innocent girl, held and shielded her, while apologizing for the baseless accusations, Mukuro only smiled with his back to her.
“I'm sure you'll find everything I'm missing, in him. Goodbye, Chrome.” Tilting his head to the right, a glance over his shoulder Mukuro saw how pale Chrome looked. Her left eye wide with tears gathering in the corners.
“ I won't contact you again. Don't...worry about your organs though, I'll still keep those going. This is just the end of our...partnership.”
As he vanished with the wind, Mukuro only had to look at Chrome's distressed expression and the boy in the distance to know his plan would work accordingly.
-
Mukuro is a patient man. He knew the best results came to fruition all in good time. Such a delicate person his Chrome, one who craved the affection she had been starved of. In the end, Mukuro decided three days of silence were enough.
Enough to make Chrome panic. Enough to make her willing to apologize for anything, even things that were not her fault. Enough...to make her will bend just a little more in his direction.
He returned to the field of flowers to find the formerly blue sky darkened by gray clouds. The flowers stripped naked of their lovely petals. His surroundings smelled of fresh and wet earth, as if it had been soaked by a heavy rain recently. He could feel the electric charge of lightning and hear distant thunder rumbles.
Judging by the state of their paradise, Chrome must have spent a lot of time with the Vongola Guardians recently. Whatever happened there left a strong impact on her. Perhaps some words had been exchanged. A kind gesture or two. Something to draw her closer to them and further away from his control.
Mukuro's upper lip curled into a slight scowl. He regretted being gone for so long. He wasn't worried about Chrome being wooed away from his side. The girl belonged to him. Minus the occasional stray incidents of her finding comforts in other beings; Chrome would always return when people became too overwhelming. However, Mukuro felt pissed off at himself for a missed opportunity. If Chrome interacted more with Tsuna's little Mafia, then he would have had a chance at possessing the Tenth Boss.
'No matter. I'll get him some other time.' Mukuro mused. Right now he had to find Chrome, who seemed to be hiding from him at the moment.
-
On the contrary, Chrome stood out in the open, she hadn't felt Mukuro return to the field so the girl remained where she stood. Sitting on a rock, she quietly watched the sky change. The times she visited here before meeting the Vongola family and Boss, the sky stayed a constant calm, crisp and clear blue. During those times, Mukuro-sama had been her entire world. He not only saved Chrome from certain death, but an identity and a place to belong as well.
. Things were changing. There were too many connections and people involved in her life for the girl's emotional state, reflected in the sky above, to always stay calm.
Pulling her knees closer, Chrome tucked her chin and wondered if these changes were good or bad.
She wasn't given much time to think about it, because one minute she looked at a sky, the next a ceiling. Chrome jerked at the abrupt scenery change, nearly falling of a sofa in the process. Only by the grace of a steadying hand from the person beside her which kept Chrome from tumbling to the floor.
“I've been thinking...” Hearing Mukuro's voice surprised Chrome, so she turned to face him in an instant. Pale cheeks stained with pale pink color, her lips slightly parted and body stiff, afraid to move should this turn out to be a delusion.
The man smiled, “I shouldn't have been so harsh with you, my cute little Chrome. You must understand though, I'm not a man who shares easily.”
Chrome withheld insisting her master did not have to share, yet the words stayed firmly on her tongue. She could tell by looking in his mismatched eyes that there was still more. Since Mukuro-sama had a lot to say to her, Chrome kept her silence. Hands clasped together, resting on the pleats of her white dress; the girl waited to listen attentively to Mukuro.
However, Mukuro seemed to be in no hurry to talk. After his grip eased off Chrome's forearm, allowing her to sit back, the girl's shoulders stiffened on a reflex when she felt his left arm settle behind her back. To make matters worse, Mukuro's fingers were playfully twisting locks of her indigo hair. Abruptly, Chrome mentioned someone complaining about her hairstyle. Hibari-san had called it an 'eyesore', since her hairstyle too closely resembled Mukuro's. Lately though, Chrome found her hair out growing the half up-do. Now, in her master's hands, the strands were loose and less likely to offend...
Upon realizing her thoughts were straying to 'that person', the one who made Mukuro-sama so angry at her last time, Chrome's body went rigid as her mind scrambled to get away from thinking about him.
“Relax, Chrome. The real fun hasn't even started yet.” Mukuro assured. Chrome found herself staring at his enigmatic smile, wondering what he meant by 'fun', when the door to the room suddenly opened.
“What are you doing here?”
“Impeccable timing, as always.” Mukuro remarked, hiding a smirk behind Chrome's hair as he kissed the back of her head. Of course he would be, since the being came about from Mukuro's illusion, masquerading itself as Kyoya Hibari. Only difference being Chrome wasn't in on this little slide of hand. Without missing a beat, Mukuro recited the script written by him. His eyes slyly glanced up from the top of Chrome's head, staring at the tense boy standing in the doorway. Dark hair combed forward, cold dark eyes, and a near perpetual scowl.
“I'm sorry, are we intruding?”
No sooner had the last syllable left his lips did Mukuro's head snapped backwards, from the force of a tonfa smashed into his face. Chrome jumped up in her haste to dodge another follow-through swing of Hibari-san's left arm. Violet bangs ruffled from the missed strike yet she would not stop just because Hibari missed, instead the girl backtracked until her legs hit against a wall.
When Hibari turned to properly face her, Chrome trembled a little. His eyes were so cold and everything about the young man before her screamed 'predator'. Chrome's first instinct is to check on Mukuro-sama, who hadn't moved since being knocked to the floor.
Yet self-preservation screamed at Chrome to run away. With Hibari-san there were only two reactions: fight or flight. And one never willingly fought against the Head of the Disciplinary Committee, unless they were stupid or desperate. Chrome knew herself to be neither.
Caught in between bolting and throwing herself in front of Mukuro-sama, Chrome felt no comfort in hearing her master's soft chuckling. Over Hibari's shoulder, the girl watched Mukuro rise up from the floor.
“Amusing. I really can't...I guess this is what it feels like to be speechless.” the illusion user mused, following his words up with more laughter. Despite having him inside her head most of the time, Chrome felt very confused as to what her master was up to. Questions about motives and intentions had to be put on hold, because Hibari noticed Mukuro and looked prepared to attack again.
“L-look out!” she called as the Cloud Guardian effortlessly twisted his form around, aiming to catch Mukuro under the chin. Chrome flinched, eye closed tightly and hands against her chest as if bracing herself for the recoil.
She remain stiff and still, waiting to hear the awful sound of brute force hitting human bone. After a few moments of hearing nothing of the sort, Chrome reluctantly opened her left eye. Raising her head, she saw Hibari was completely still. Frozen. And Mukuro-sama wasn't in front of him to take the beating.
“...where?” she uttered softly. Her answer came in the form of a chuckle and a hand gently tucked under her chin.
“Foolish, sweet Chrome. You forget so easily who's world this is.”
Finally, it clicked with her. The flower field and the room...were all of Mukuro-sama's creation. As if understanding, Chrome broke away from Mukuro's touch. Gingerly, she approached the stilled form of Hibari.
“Then...he also...isn't real.” Chrome stated rather than questioned, yet the Mist Guardian knew to be cautious about making assumptions of her master's powers.
“Oh he's as real as you wish him to be, Chrome.”
Mukuro waited until Chrome fully circled the 'false' Hibari, before snapping his fingers. At first, the fictitious clone didn't move. Then Chrome blinked, perhaps expecting Hibari-san to react to the sound. A sliver of doubt, but that's all Mukuro needed to make an illusion and seamlessly weave it into a new reality.
As Chrome peered into the teenager's face, Hibari scowled before putting down his tonfa into their holsters. Chrome wasn't fooled into thinking he was going to suddenly turn gentle though. Hibari had proven time and time again, to her and others, he didn't need weapons to hurt people. Whether armed or not, Chrome felt her breath catch when Hibari-san approached.
“M-Mukuro-sama?” she muttered. At first her eyes went to sofa he had been leaning against, only to find it vacant. She couldn't see him in any of the corners of the room, one of which she slowly backing into as Hibari came ever closer. She also couldn't feel his presence. Not in the room or even inside her head.
The girl tried not to cower as Hibari all but drove her to squeeze against a wall. She flinched and squirmed as his right hand clenched tightly around a green top barely covering her torso. Before now, Chrome hadn't even been aware her clothing changed from a dress to her old Kokuyo Middle uniform. Now though, she was all too keenly conscious of how her fifteen year old body just didn't fit right into the clothes of the past.
“This outfit is not only the wrong school, but violates every single dress code for female students.” Hibari ground out. Chrome made the mistake of looking him in the eye. The girl felt chilled to the very bone as to how the Cloud Guardian glared at the olive green cloth in his hands.
“I...I'm sorry.” Chrome uttered while quickly forcing her eye to look else, honestly unsure of what else to say.
'I could fight back, but for how long...' the girl wondered. Hibari was a force to reckoned with when calm. She didn't want to think how a conflict between them would end, if the uniform irritated him.
All thought of escape quickly left the girl as Hibari eased the right tonfa out of it's holster. Once the metal is in his hands, Chrome shuddered as he slowly raised the tonfa to ghost across pale and smooth skin of her thighs.
“Your skirt is at least five centimeters too short. Mid-drift is exposed. ...disgusting. Are you trying to tempt other herbivores to take you?” Pleated fabric creased, barely covering her as the metal stick slowly slid up.
“S-stop!” Chrome exclaimed as instinct came rushing at her full force. She realized the mistake too late too correct it. Chrome found her hands extended out, pressed against Hibari's uniform shirt, bony digits pressing wrinkles on the white button up fabric. Chrome didn't have to look at Hibari's face to feel impending doom. Underneath her palms, Chrome felt him inhale sharply as if their abrupt contact startled him almost as it did her.
In the blink of an eye, the moment passed. Hibari roughly grabbed both her wrists with one hand and pushed her back. Chrome didn't need to be told she had screwed up. Big time. Hibari did not like being touched and he did not touch people. Period. This was about to get worse than she imagined.
“Or is it?”
Chrome couldn't help but look away from the dangerous boy. Her gaze roved over the man seated on the couch. Pants legs creased from his right leg propped against the left knee, his torso covered by a gray camo shirt, jacket draped lazily on his shoulders. In short, Mukuro looked quite comfortable watching her being all but molested.
The illusion user tilted his head slightly, “What is it, Chrome? Are you afraid of your Cloud Man?”
She almost said 'yes'. The Hibari-san she knew ,although often angry at everyone and quick to resort to violence; would never do so shameful as feeling up a girl, under the guise of reading her the right act about rules.
Mukuro leaned forward, hands clasped under his chin. “I find it very interesting that you think so highly of this man. I wonder, will this esteem you have towards him... over power your devotion to me, Chrome?”
“Never” Chrome said confidently. Her words only made Mukuro chuckle. “He seems to think otherwise” her master remarked.
Before Chrome could even blink, Hibari pushed into the corner, her thin and breakable body pressed uncomfortably up close and personal with the wall.
Although his expression retained it's previous degree between concealed anger and indifference, Chrome felt the charge of electricity. Something had snapped in this false Hibari.
“I can't stand weak idiots like you. Sheep. You're all sheep, herding together for protection and bleating for help.”
As he said this, Hibari leaned in closer. His fingers roughly grabbed the top of Chrome's head, forcing her to look at him. Fury. Pure hatred in his eyes, as if she were the lowest creature to walk the Earth. Yet, Chrome also felt something else. Not in his eyes, but how Hibari-san held her. At some point in their one-side exchange he had put away the tonfa. Now, his hands were on Chrome's clothing. Touching without touching, since there is cloth between them.
“Let's see how much you'll bleed, little sheep. After I bite you.” His threat sounded so cold, but Chrome could feel Hibari's heated breath on her neck. He didn't bother with tender kisses along the column of skin, instead his mouth open and teeth grated before his jaw clamped down.
She screamed in pain while Mukuro-sama chuckled softly at his vessel's plight.
-
Startled, Chrome bolted upright in bed while desperately gasping for air. In the dark of night, trembling hands flew to her neck. She felt nothing but smooth, if sweat drenched; skin. Unmarred and free blood. Once she lowered her hands Chrome felt overwhelmed by something she could only describe as relief.
'Did you have a good dream, my sweet Chrome?'
Any normal person would have yelled at the bastard who had played such a dirty trick. Anyone else, would have asked why Mukuro put them through such an emotional roller coaster. Why he felt the need to tarnish, destroy, and burn their view of another human being.
Chrome, on the other hand, did none of these things. Instead, she drew to a conclusion formulated only after spending years of intimate knowledge exchanged between her and the prisoner.
“This was a test. You wanted me to prove...my loyalty to you, Mukuro-sama.”
'Very good.' Chrome tried to smile, because inside her head she could picture Mukuro's pleased expression and it felt wonderful to be praised. Yet, she couldn't get facial muscles to cooperate. Not when one particular question weighed heavily on her mind.
“Mukuro-sama...if I may ask. Why did you pick Hibari-san...to be my test?” Chrome could think of at least ten people she had more frequent contact with. None of them being Hibari. Thus, she couldn't help but question her master's reasoning for choosing the Cloud Guardian.
'Hm. I wonder' Mukuro mused along with her. A tense moment of complete silence lapsed in Chrome's room, before Mukuro offered the curious girl a breadcrumb trail to follow.
'All I will say is... 'most' of that realm and that particular Hibari, I picked from his brain.'
The warm expression that she pictured when he praised her was no more, instead Chrome felt a touch chilled by how smug her master sounded.
'Maybe. You should ask Hibari sometime why he has a strong fetish for girls in school uniforms. Be sure to mention the biting, while you're at it.'
Chrome shook her head. After the 'test' and what Mukuro-sama said about her fellow Guardian, the last place the girl ever wanted to be was around Hibari-san. Let alone in private to ask him such inappropriate questions.
'Good girl. You've passed.' Mukuro soothed. With her mind at ease, Chrome laid back in bed. Another hour or so and she was asleep. Since there was no rest for the wicked, Mukuro remained awake and alert. He wasn't fooled into thinking one 'bad dream' would drive an impassable wedge between his Chrome and the Vongola family.
Still, he supposed, it was a start.
-
Notes: Something a bit dark and slight angsty to contrast with the first chapter fluff. Thanks for reading.
Author: BlueQuartz
Series: KHR
Pairing: Mukuro/Chrome/Hibari
Rating: PG-13/T
Warning: Mild sensuality
Notes: 2 years after canon, making Chrome about 15
-
A summer breeze caressed a carpet of grass and wild flowers. A blue sky above them, bed of green at their feet. This is where they first met, before 'Nagi' became Chrome. For almost three years, the wildflower field had been 'their' place and only theirs.
Which is why it came as a mild shock when Mukuro to spy another figure occupying Elysian. After only a moment of looking to the intruder, then up to the blue sky to watch clouds gathering, Mukuro smirked.
Looking back at the boy, Mukuro recognized the jacket, the red fabric pinned to a right sleeve and a fluffy yellow bird perched on the teenager's shoulder. One didn't have to be a genius to put two and two together. However, superior intellect was required for the delicate web he was scheming to weave.
“Who is this, Chrome?”
The purple haired girl tilted her head, hands all but hidden in thick grass. Slender legs stretched out before her, frail body covered by a thin white cotton dress, feet bury so as to be kissed by dew-dotted grass. A single violet colored eye stared up her master, “Who, Mukuro-sama?” Chrome questioned in return.
“This...boy standing in our field.” Mukuro said schooling his tone to sound a mix of caution and curiosity.
Chrome twisted around to stare in the direction Mukuro was looking. His gaze gravitated away from the curious intruder in the distance, now watching Chrome's expression change. Like him, she too seemed surprised to find Hibari there. Then the significance of his identity dawned on her. Cheeks flushed with color, Chrome turned her gaze back at Mukuro.
“It's...Cloud Man. I don't know why he's here.”
Mukuro skillfully switched from 'curious' to 'furious'. Wrinkles creased his forehead, lips fixed in a stern line, a noticeable sharpness in his mismatched gaze.. Chrome searched his eyes for comfort in his red and blue eye, since his face lacked compassion.
“I think I know.” Moving fluidly, Mukuro bent down to pick up his green jacket, shrugging it onto his shoulders.
“Apparently, I'm not enough for you, Chrome. I suppose it was only a matter of time. You are a young woman, so naturally your thoughts turn to boys you can see and touch in person.” Scandalized, the girl shook her head, “N-no that's not it! Mukuro-sama, I honestly don't know why he's here! You have to believe me...”
Like a butterfly flapping it's wings dangerously close to a spider's webbing, Chrome inched towards the trap set for her.
“Since it's obvious you don't need me Chrome, maybe I should leave.”
“No!” the girl exclaimed, rising to her feet. Fists clenched his jacket, the girl begged “Mukuro-sama, you've got it all wrong. I would never...he...please you have to believe me! Don't go.”
Normally, the most hardened man would be putty when a shivering terrified woman gripped them. Mukuro was far from normal. Where someone else might have embraced the innocent girl, held and shielded her, while apologizing for the baseless accusations, Mukuro only smiled with his back to her.
“I'm sure you'll find everything I'm missing, in him. Goodbye, Chrome.” Tilting his head to the right, a glance over his shoulder Mukuro saw how pale Chrome looked. Her left eye wide with tears gathering in the corners.
“ I won't contact you again. Don't...worry about your organs though, I'll still keep those going. This is just the end of our...partnership.”
As he vanished with the wind, Mukuro only had to look at Chrome's distressed expression and the boy in the distance to know his plan would work accordingly.
-
Mukuro is a patient man. He knew the best results came to fruition all in good time. Such a delicate person his Chrome, one who craved the affection she had been starved of. In the end, Mukuro decided three days of silence were enough.
Enough to make Chrome panic. Enough to make her willing to apologize for anything, even things that were not her fault. Enough...to make her will bend just a little more in his direction.
He returned to the field of flowers to find the formerly blue sky darkened by gray clouds. The flowers stripped naked of their lovely petals. His surroundings smelled of fresh and wet earth, as if it had been soaked by a heavy rain recently. He could feel the electric charge of lightning and hear distant thunder rumbles.
Judging by the state of their paradise, Chrome must have spent a lot of time with the Vongola Guardians recently. Whatever happened there left a strong impact on her. Perhaps some words had been exchanged. A kind gesture or two. Something to draw her closer to them and further away from his control.
Mukuro's upper lip curled into a slight scowl. He regretted being gone for so long. He wasn't worried about Chrome being wooed away from his side. The girl belonged to him. Minus the occasional stray incidents of her finding comforts in other beings; Chrome would always return when people became too overwhelming. However, Mukuro felt pissed off at himself for a missed opportunity. If Chrome interacted more with Tsuna's little Mafia, then he would have had a chance at possessing the Tenth Boss.
'No matter. I'll get him some other time.' Mukuro mused. Right now he had to find Chrome, who seemed to be hiding from him at the moment.
-
On the contrary, Chrome stood out in the open, she hadn't felt Mukuro return to the field so the girl remained where she stood. Sitting on a rock, she quietly watched the sky change. The times she visited here before meeting the Vongola family and Boss, the sky stayed a constant calm, crisp and clear blue. During those times, Mukuro-sama had been her entire world. He not only saved Chrome from certain death, but an identity and a place to belong as well.
. Things were changing. There were too many connections and people involved in her life for the girl's emotional state, reflected in the sky above, to always stay calm.
Pulling her knees closer, Chrome tucked her chin and wondered if these changes were good or bad.
She wasn't given much time to think about it, because one minute she looked at a sky, the next a ceiling. Chrome jerked at the abrupt scenery change, nearly falling of a sofa in the process. Only by the grace of a steadying hand from the person beside her which kept Chrome from tumbling to the floor.
“I've been thinking...” Hearing Mukuro's voice surprised Chrome, so she turned to face him in an instant. Pale cheeks stained with pale pink color, her lips slightly parted and body stiff, afraid to move should this turn out to be a delusion.
The man smiled, “I shouldn't have been so harsh with you, my cute little Chrome. You must understand though, I'm not a man who shares easily.”
Chrome withheld insisting her master did not have to share, yet the words stayed firmly on her tongue. She could tell by looking in his mismatched eyes that there was still more. Since Mukuro-sama had a lot to say to her, Chrome kept her silence. Hands clasped together, resting on the pleats of her white dress; the girl waited to listen attentively to Mukuro.
However, Mukuro seemed to be in no hurry to talk. After his grip eased off Chrome's forearm, allowing her to sit back, the girl's shoulders stiffened on a reflex when she felt his left arm settle behind her back. To make matters worse, Mukuro's fingers were playfully twisting locks of her indigo hair. Abruptly, Chrome mentioned someone complaining about her hairstyle. Hibari-san had called it an 'eyesore', since her hairstyle too closely resembled Mukuro's. Lately though, Chrome found her hair out growing the half up-do. Now, in her master's hands, the strands were loose and less likely to offend...
Upon realizing her thoughts were straying to 'that person', the one who made Mukuro-sama so angry at her last time, Chrome's body went rigid as her mind scrambled to get away from thinking about him.
“Relax, Chrome. The real fun hasn't even started yet.” Mukuro assured. Chrome found herself staring at his enigmatic smile, wondering what he meant by 'fun', when the door to the room suddenly opened.
“What are you doing here?”
“Impeccable timing, as always.” Mukuro remarked, hiding a smirk behind Chrome's hair as he kissed the back of her head. Of course he would be, since the being came about from Mukuro's illusion, masquerading itself as Kyoya Hibari. Only difference being Chrome wasn't in on this little slide of hand. Without missing a beat, Mukuro recited the script written by him. His eyes slyly glanced up from the top of Chrome's head, staring at the tense boy standing in the doorway. Dark hair combed forward, cold dark eyes, and a near perpetual scowl.
“I'm sorry, are we intruding?”
No sooner had the last syllable left his lips did Mukuro's head snapped backwards, from the force of a tonfa smashed into his face. Chrome jumped up in her haste to dodge another follow-through swing of Hibari-san's left arm. Violet bangs ruffled from the missed strike yet she would not stop just because Hibari missed, instead the girl backtracked until her legs hit against a wall.
When Hibari turned to properly face her, Chrome trembled a little. His eyes were so cold and everything about the young man before her screamed 'predator'. Chrome's first instinct is to check on Mukuro-sama, who hadn't moved since being knocked to the floor.
Yet self-preservation screamed at Chrome to run away. With Hibari-san there were only two reactions: fight or flight. And one never willingly fought against the Head of the Disciplinary Committee, unless they were stupid or desperate. Chrome knew herself to be neither.
Caught in between bolting and throwing herself in front of Mukuro-sama, Chrome felt no comfort in hearing her master's soft chuckling. Over Hibari's shoulder, the girl watched Mukuro rise up from the floor.
“Amusing. I really can't...I guess this is what it feels like to be speechless.” the illusion user mused, following his words up with more laughter. Despite having him inside her head most of the time, Chrome felt very confused as to what her master was up to. Questions about motives and intentions had to be put on hold, because Hibari noticed Mukuro and looked prepared to attack again.
“L-look out!” she called as the Cloud Guardian effortlessly twisted his form around, aiming to catch Mukuro under the chin. Chrome flinched, eye closed tightly and hands against her chest as if bracing herself for the recoil.
She remain stiff and still, waiting to hear the awful sound of brute force hitting human bone. After a few moments of hearing nothing of the sort, Chrome reluctantly opened her left eye. Raising her head, she saw Hibari was completely still. Frozen. And Mukuro-sama wasn't in front of him to take the beating.
“...where?” she uttered softly. Her answer came in the form of a chuckle and a hand gently tucked under her chin.
“Foolish, sweet Chrome. You forget so easily who's world this is.”
Finally, it clicked with her. The flower field and the room...were all of Mukuro-sama's creation. As if understanding, Chrome broke away from Mukuro's touch. Gingerly, she approached the stilled form of Hibari.
“Then...he also...isn't real.” Chrome stated rather than questioned, yet the Mist Guardian knew to be cautious about making assumptions of her master's powers.
“Oh he's as real as you wish him to be, Chrome.”
Mukuro waited until Chrome fully circled the 'false' Hibari, before snapping his fingers. At first, the fictitious clone didn't move. Then Chrome blinked, perhaps expecting Hibari-san to react to the sound. A sliver of doubt, but that's all Mukuro needed to make an illusion and seamlessly weave it into a new reality.
As Chrome peered into the teenager's face, Hibari scowled before putting down his tonfa into their holsters. Chrome wasn't fooled into thinking he was going to suddenly turn gentle though. Hibari had proven time and time again, to her and others, he didn't need weapons to hurt people. Whether armed or not, Chrome felt her breath catch when Hibari-san approached.
“M-Mukuro-sama?” she muttered. At first her eyes went to sofa he had been leaning against, only to find it vacant. She couldn't see him in any of the corners of the room, one of which she slowly backing into as Hibari came ever closer. She also couldn't feel his presence. Not in the room or even inside her head.
The girl tried not to cower as Hibari all but drove her to squeeze against a wall. She flinched and squirmed as his right hand clenched tightly around a green top barely covering her torso. Before now, Chrome hadn't even been aware her clothing changed from a dress to her old Kokuyo Middle uniform. Now though, she was all too keenly conscious of how her fifteen year old body just didn't fit right into the clothes of the past.
“This outfit is not only the wrong school, but violates every single dress code for female students.” Hibari ground out. Chrome made the mistake of looking him in the eye. The girl felt chilled to the very bone as to how the Cloud Guardian glared at the olive green cloth in his hands.
“I...I'm sorry.” Chrome uttered while quickly forcing her eye to look else, honestly unsure of what else to say.
'I could fight back, but for how long...' the girl wondered. Hibari was a force to reckoned with when calm. She didn't want to think how a conflict between them would end, if the uniform irritated him.
All thought of escape quickly left the girl as Hibari eased the right tonfa out of it's holster. Once the metal is in his hands, Chrome shuddered as he slowly raised the tonfa to ghost across pale and smooth skin of her thighs.
“Your skirt is at least five centimeters too short. Mid-drift is exposed. ...disgusting. Are you trying to tempt other herbivores to take you?” Pleated fabric creased, barely covering her as the metal stick slowly slid up.
“S-stop!” Chrome exclaimed as instinct came rushing at her full force. She realized the mistake too late too correct it. Chrome found her hands extended out, pressed against Hibari's uniform shirt, bony digits pressing wrinkles on the white button up fabric. Chrome didn't have to look at Hibari's face to feel impending doom. Underneath her palms, Chrome felt him inhale sharply as if their abrupt contact startled him almost as it did her.
In the blink of an eye, the moment passed. Hibari roughly grabbed both her wrists with one hand and pushed her back. Chrome didn't need to be told she had screwed up. Big time. Hibari did not like being touched and he did not touch people. Period. This was about to get worse than she imagined.
“Or is it?”
Chrome couldn't help but look away from the dangerous boy. Her gaze roved over the man seated on the couch. Pants legs creased from his right leg propped against the left knee, his torso covered by a gray camo shirt, jacket draped lazily on his shoulders. In short, Mukuro looked quite comfortable watching her being all but molested.
The illusion user tilted his head slightly, “What is it, Chrome? Are you afraid of your Cloud Man?”
She almost said 'yes'. The Hibari-san she knew ,although often angry at everyone and quick to resort to violence; would never do so shameful as feeling up a girl, under the guise of reading her the right act about rules.
Mukuro leaned forward, hands clasped under his chin. “I find it very interesting that you think so highly of this man. I wonder, will this esteem you have towards him... over power your devotion to me, Chrome?”
“Never” Chrome said confidently. Her words only made Mukuro chuckle. “He seems to think otherwise” her master remarked.
Before Chrome could even blink, Hibari pushed into the corner, her thin and breakable body pressed uncomfortably up close and personal with the wall.
Although his expression retained it's previous degree between concealed anger and indifference, Chrome felt the charge of electricity. Something had snapped in this false Hibari.
“I can't stand weak idiots like you. Sheep. You're all sheep, herding together for protection and bleating for help.”
As he said this, Hibari leaned in closer. His fingers roughly grabbed the top of Chrome's head, forcing her to look at him. Fury. Pure hatred in his eyes, as if she were the lowest creature to walk the Earth. Yet, Chrome also felt something else. Not in his eyes, but how Hibari-san held her. At some point in their one-side exchange he had put away the tonfa. Now, his hands were on Chrome's clothing. Touching without touching, since there is cloth between them.
“Let's see how much you'll bleed, little sheep. After I bite you.” His threat sounded so cold, but Chrome could feel Hibari's heated breath on her neck. He didn't bother with tender kisses along the column of skin, instead his mouth open and teeth grated before his jaw clamped down.
She screamed in pain while Mukuro-sama chuckled softly at his vessel's plight.
-
Startled, Chrome bolted upright in bed while desperately gasping for air. In the dark of night, trembling hands flew to her neck. She felt nothing but smooth, if sweat drenched; skin. Unmarred and free blood. Once she lowered her hands Chrome felt overwhelmed by something she could only describe as relief.
'Did you have a good dream, my sweet Chrome?'
Any normal person would have yelled at the bastard who had played such a dirty trick. Anyone else, would have asked why Mukuro put them through such an emotional roller coaster. Why he felt the need to tarnish, destroy, and burn their view of another human being.
Chrome, on the other hand, did none of these things. Instead, she drew to a conclusion formulated only after spending years of intimate knowledge exchanged between her and the prisoner.
“This was a test. You wanted me to prove...my loyalty to you, Mukuro-sama.”
'Very good.' Chrome tried to smile, because inside her head she could picture Mukuro's pleased expression and it felt wonderful to be praised. Yet, she couldn't get facial muscles to cooperate. Not when one particular question weighed heavily on her mind.
“Mukuro-sama...if I may ask. Why did you pick Hibari-san...to be my test?” Chrome could think of at least ten people she had more frequent contact with. None of them being Hibari. Thus, she couldn't help but question her master's reasoning for choosing the Cloud Guardian.
'Hm. I wonder' Mukuro mused along with her. A tense moment of complete silence lapsed in Chrome's room, before Mukuro offered the curious girl a breadcrumb trail to follow.
'All I will say is... 'most' of that realm and that particular Hibari, I picked from his brain.'
The warm expression that she pictured when he praised her was no more, instead Chrome felt a touch chilled by how smug her master sounded.
'Maybe. You should ask Hibari sometime why he has a strong fetish for girls in school uniforms. Be sure to mention the biting, while you're at it.'
Chrome shook her head. After the 'test' and what Mukuro-sama said about her fellow Guardian, the last place the girl ever wanted to be was around Hibari-san. Let alone in private to ask him such inappropriate questions.
'Good girl. You've passed.' Mukuro soothed. With her mind at ease, Chrome laid back in bed. Another hour or so and she was asleep. Since there was no rest for the wicked, Mukuro remained awake and alert. He wasn't fooled into thinking one 'bad dream' would drive an impassable wedge between his Chrome and the Vongola family.
Still, he supposed, it was a start.
-
Notes: Something a bit dark and slight angsty to contrast with the first chapter fluff. Thanks for reading.