merendinoemiliano: thank you for the review -Thank you, all and asunder. As for your 'no yaoi', well, there won't be any sexual scenes here. As in nada.

I'm familiar of yaoi, but is yaoi just the sexual scenes or is it boy love itself? I mean, that's shounen ai, right? Is shounen ai gay love between males and yaoi the sexual love between males? Am I getting that right? I'm not entirely clear. Anyways. The ships I ship in this particular fandoms are all straight (sort of, because there's Viper). But I'm still iffy with putting in romance here -though if I do, straight or gay, it will not be a centrepiece because I feel uneasy just thinking of ripping off scenes from other people, like recycling scenes, and I don't have any experience in that department to pull ideas from.

...anyways, most likely, there won't be full fledged romance here so sorry for those that were hoping for it.

But I can confirm now, that there will at least be some hints of it (more fluff, fluff, fluff,) from my favoured ships.

Alford opened the door and greeted Renato with a head slam. The older -older, uhuh that's right, he's the second eldest- expected it of course and had braced himself, not moving an inch.

Enma winced. That looked painful.

That sounded painful.

Li Jie walked past them, bags in his arms.

"We brought you some clothes. And we've also already processed the papers for a place to stay." He smiled.

"Thanks." Saanvi accepted it gratefully, her other hand gripping Li's forearm shortly before letting go. They hadn't made a stop for clothes, prioritizing food, weapons, and getting here as soon as possible. Asking Adelheid for directions to the restroom and thanking her, the soldier was quick to claim it first.

She could stay in one set of clothes for an entire year if she had to. Didn't mean she did if she didn't actually need to.

The martial artist looked at Delta who was dully watching the other two exhibit their manliness. Or something. No one actually knew what exactly they were doing.

Li Jie's lips twitched, remembering Viper refer to it as some kind of courtship. With the 'tension and their desires for each other's lips barely restrained by societal standards'. Or something.

Skull's interpretation was a lot more... raunchy? was it the right word?

(Luce had been in their corner of debate too.)

Well, anyhows, neither opinions were ever spoken within the two's vicinity, that's for sure.

"How did you trace us?"

"Tracker." Obviously.

Li narrowed his eyes, "You don't mean..."

The older man waved his, essentially, homemade tracker. "I mean this. What do you take me for? I'm no idiot. I'm not going to touch that unless I put it through the wringer first."

The abnormalities they were experiencing was no joke. Things concerning one's soul and very essence of existence rarely was.

"Speaking of, please tell me you hadn't used your Flames."

"No. No we haven't."

...It was very rarely that a situation that calls to exert effort to such an extent arises anyways.

Of them, Viper was the only one who used their Flames liberally -But that's more the nature of Mist Flames than an actual need to.

Mist Flames was just so unfairly exploitable. Compared to that, Red Flames was more rigid.

"Right, well, I'm leaving. Verde has a lab here somewhere, I'll see what I can get." the trail he'd been after was a dead end.

If Delta was anyone else, he'd be jumping like Skull when there's an exhibit within his little automobile club. That was how -dare he say- excited he was to get a look into Verde's mind.

"By the way, what's in that?"

"Oh, this," Li Jie raised the paper bag, "something I got for Viper."

"I'll be on my way, then."

Li reached out for the scientist's wrist, glancing a touch over his pulse -just to check, assure himself and all that- then let him go with a smile. Delta walked past the door, slowing down briefly to let Renato squeeze the warmth from his shoulder before proceeding.

Behind him, Alford finally let go. Only to throw himself to Renato again and tackled him to the floor.

"Um, shouldn't we stop them right about now, Skull-san?"

"What?! No! No! This is just getting good!"

(Six out of eight -nine -out of seven.

Seven.

Out of seven.)

(Renato swore if Viper didn't get their butt here soon, he was going to sic Li Jie on them, see how they like that.)
_

"Alright. You already explained to them what's going to happen?"

Hayato shook his head, "Reborn-san only told me about my part."

Squalo clicked his tongue, absently massaging his temple because damn Mammon's trick must've messed up something inside, "Yeah, well long story short, we're in code red right now. Meaning, a Vongola Sky is unprotected."

Ryohei frowned, Hayato puffed up, Takeshi bristled, and Kyoya definitely narrowed his eyes.

Squalo was too preoccupied to relish in it but Belphegor certainly had no such deterrent as he cackled and even Xanxus sneered tauntingly. Fran 'ufufufu'd creepily (reminiscent of another Mist) just to get with the trend.

Even as Levi nursed a bruise on the side of his face, Bel's wrist cramped, and Luss' elbow ached. The Storm shit was still exuding low-key smugness while the Cloud's finally seemed to calm down.

"We-"

"Are too inexperienced to know where and how the attacks would come from, or how to stop it from even so much as grazing your Sky. Vongola are zipping as much lips but there are rats and at least a little bit about this shitty mess is going to get leaked. Bastards are going to grow balls and get it in their head that the Decimo is as vulnerable as he could get. His greatest protection had been Reborn and with the guy gone, we're your compensation to patch holes in the defense. We're babysitting you and you're gonna do exactly what we say."

Squalo was more than up to breaking heads with the Vongola brats any other day but he just wanted back in a bed right now, suffering in silence as he resisted the urge to drown his own brain with Rain Flames which, the fact that he even had the urge, was all kinds of bad. He was going to get this done quick. He felt like he could use a decade's worth of sleep.

The other Varia smiled darkly, no doubt ready to Lord over the brats. Lussuria in particular was giggling, eyes burning through his shades and making the hair on Ryohei's arms stand.

(Squalo might just feel sorry for the Vongola brat. Just a little bit. Nono had booked the Varia to be in the same floor as him and Xanxus wasn't happy about it.

He couldn't see the younger man -boy- not using this mission as an excuse to 'get out of the house'.

Despite himself, the swordsman's lips twitched. Upside with this whole sudden age gap between them due to being iced for eight years, it didn't feel weird to think he was cute.)

"By the way, where the fuck is the brat?"
_

As expected of the Vongola.

So inefficient and full of gaps.

If they weren't, Mukuro shouldn't even be taking a detour to cull some idiots.

(So he just happened to know exactly where those gaps were, don't look at him like that, it wasn't like he was planning anything too bad. He'd already left those behind. Kind of. Well, you know, they're in standby for rain check and... you know.)

He smiled, leaning a bit forward and peering down the edge of some random roof in Kyoto.

Oh well, he'd been rather bored lately anyways. Of course, as was a habit of his lately, he'd gone straight to the Cloud's residence (Oh, his face the first time Mukuro popped in his room) to let off some steam -so easy, that boy is- but this issue with the Arcobaleno had pushed that back.

Below him, one of those Constables stiffened, gasping for air that just wouldn't come. She was the last of her group and the teen was taking his time on her.

Shifting his trident to his other hand, Mukuro wriggled his fingers, giggling quietly when the woman jerked around, doing a parody of that dance that's been all the rage in the social media lately. With his chest shaking, the Mist accidentally pulled a bit too hard on the woman's arm and it detached, smacking her in her face and bouncing off to the other side of the alley, the wet 'spack' noise sending shudders down her spine -yes, she was still fully conscious and aware.

It only sent him into a bout of laughter.

Mukuro idly mused if he should try out their own 'punishments' on her -he'd seen and gone through quite a bit of them during his brief term in their care before he'd busted himself and the others out.

He decided on it and began with unearthing the memories he had of them.

It wouldn't be hours yet until anyone would be expecting him anyways.

(Since the first moment Chrome utilized her Flames (like this, don't pull, call and let it come to you, let it flow but never let it go my darling Chrome, never let it turn and consume you, let your most deepest and deprived fantasies run wild but draw a line and keep it- it is yours and no one else's, not even mine, never truly-) Mukuro had noticed that the younger girl had a natural inclination for the more subtle.

A perfect contrast to his own dramatic flavour.

(A perfect balance, they were -are- perfect together, thrum, thrum, his Mist sings when Chrome is in his arms, small and so, so gullible but safe, safe, safe, and that's all that matters for the selfish, cruel boy that she has the unfortunate luck of being Compatible with-)

But sometimes, more recently rather, specifically with the distance he'd created between them (he knew the mind well, and regretfully, he also knew the mind well enough to realize when a co-dependency is pushing unhealthy to just plain self-destructive and if the latter hadn't been happening to Chrome -if it had been him instead, if only- he would've been more than happy to let it be), he'd taken the habit of adapting her techniques in his more wistful moments.)

(Tsuna's blasè acceptance with her tendencies is one of the biggest reason why Mukuro stayed this long -more importantly, why he'd trusted the other boy with her.)

(Mukuro puts on a show for the audience -spreads the fear. Chrome is content to direct a play only for herself.)

I'll tell you my OTPs if you manage to guess my favourite character in KHR.

(Accepting suggestions for character POV!)

(Tell me if I'm going fast or slow because for some reason, I can't read my own work. Like, there's a dense muddy window between us that just keeps me from getting absorbed -or I'm just really bad at writing and this is the same for you guys too- if I don't wait at least a couple of weeks before I reread it.)

Guest reviewer/s: Thank you for your reviews. I'm touched that you're making the effort even with such problems.