Something Short of Hectic

It seemed Chrome had been the only one of the Vongola Mafia Family to be happy when Rokudou Mukuro was released from the Vendicare prison. The few hours before the real Mist Guardian was scheduled to arrive at the base under Namimori were something short of hectic.

Tsuna, despite having been the boss of the Vongola for the past three years, had spent a better part of these hours hiding from Reborn. It seemed that after all these years Mukuro still seemed to freak him out. However Reborn saw it as the duty of the boss to welcome back important members of the family after their long imprisonment. Tsuna did not want to be within ten meters of the man if he could help it. In his attempts at hiding, Tsuna had even squeezed himself into the impossibly small space between the wall and the four-poster bed in his room, hoping that Reborn would never think of looking there. But of course Reborn is Reborn and had he spent those few hours sitting on Tsuna's bed enjoying a nice cup of fresh espresso.

Gokudera had acted in what he thought was amazing foresight and started putting up signs of what looked like a black fork in a red circle with a line through it. It was only after reading the "THE USE OF TRIDENTS ARE FORBIDDEN WITHIN THE BASE" underneath said picture that people actually got the idea of what the sign was meant to do. Here Gokudera had also had the foresight in getting the sentence translated into English, Italian, Japanese and (just in case) Latin. Despite everyone's knowledge that it would take more than just mere signs to stop Mukuro, they didn't stop Gokudera because they'd been immersed in their own little clouds of anxiety.

Yamamoto hadn't changed much over the years and some would go as far as to say he hadn't changed. He still took almost everything as a game and still had a passionate love for baseball. With his sword attached to his belt he'd wondered around the corridors of the underground stronghold smiling that bright smile of his. He didn't actually have anything personal against Mukuro and with the way everyone else was acting he felt that there should be at least someone who would give the poor guy a chance.

Sasagawa Ryouhei was out making negotiations with an allying family two days ago and was not expected back until tomorrow. He'd taken Lambo with him to give the kid some field experience. He didn't have anything against Mukuro either but from what he had heard he was EXTREMELY strong. He'd spent a total of two minutes wondering if he could convince the guy to join his boxing team at competitions on some weekends. Then he'd been packed onto a private jet to fly out to Italy so he let the idea drop. For now.

Chrome had always respected and admired the person who (used to) share her mind and body. She did owe her life to the guy after all. So when she'd heard that the boss had made a deal to get Mukuro out of the Vendicare she'd let out a squeal so uncharacteristic of her normal quite demeanour that all members of the meeting had turned to her in surprise. Well as surprised as famous mafia men got but that wasn't the point. She'd spent the next week with a happy smile plastered permanently on her face and was happy for Mukuro-sama.

Hibari had been the only one anyone trusted to retrieve said illusionist from the Vendicare's icy prison. Despite the dislike he held towards Mukuro he would do anything if Reborn asked him to. So the day before he'd gone to fetch the prisoner and ferry him back to base. As the time of his arrival drew near the members present at the base gathered in the designated meeting area.

When Hibari and Mukuro were twenty minutes late they had began to grow restless. An hour after the appointed time Tsuna wondered whether or not he'd made the right choice in trusting Hibari to deliver Mukuro in one piece. At one and a half hours each one of them had been ready to rush out the door to stop any extensive damage from being done to the general public. Any battle between a psychopathic pineapple and a bite-happy fight addict was bound to be destructive.

Chrome on the other hand knew several possible reasons why they were late. All of them made her blush to the tips of her ears and that didn't help her any when she tried to talk the other Guardians out of sending a search party. She was just about to give up when the doors to the room slammed open and a snarling Hibari with rose powered cheeks, sporting a large hickey walked briskly past them all and a smirking Mukuro in tow.

"But Kyo-chan! I thought that you liked playing exhibitionist with me!"

Both had walked out another door leaving several wide-eyed Guardians in their wake. There were things that family just didn't need to know about one another. That was one of them.

It seems Chrome wasn't the only one happy about Mukuro's release from prison.

Fin

A/N: Huh… well… That didn't turn out quite as expected. Honestly this was written as something to relieve myself of stress during my exam period. Having to study for eleven exams isn't cool. So yea. Hope you've enjoyed reading it and drop a review if you'd like. :)