"Kyoya?"

"Hmh?" Hibari stopped buttoning his violet shirt and looked over his shoulder towards the bedroom door. He had already sensed her presence before she even entered the room, so he wasn't surprised to see her standing there, looking back at him. He focused his attention on the shirt again and continued getting dressed "What is it, Chrome?"

Chrome stepped closer to him and slowly reached her hand out to touch his arm. But she hesitated and dropped her arm before doing so.

Instead, she gazed at the back of his head and swallowed nervously.

"Do you…" she began quietly "Do you have a moment? I'd like to talk about…"

"I'm busy" Hibari cut her off quite rudely "Later".

Chrome's gaze dropped towards her feet and she sighed sadly.

Hibari, who was now fumbling with his black necktie, turned around when he heard her sighing and frowned slightly when he saw her staring at the ground.

When he had finally managed to get his tie the way he wanted, he put a hand under Chrome's chin and lifted it up so that she would look at him. He placed a small kiss on her forehead.

"Fine" he said and threw a quick glance at his watch "If you say it quickly, I can still make it to the meeting on time. So, what is it?"

Chrome opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again almost immediately when she decided that she shouldn't hold him when he was in such a hurry. He was already patient enough with her as it was and she didn't want to seem selfish.

She shook her head.

"No, it can wait" she said and faked a smile "I'll talk to you later".

But Hibari wasn't stupid. He had been dating Chrome for almost a year, so he had learned how to differ her true smiles from the fake ones, and sadly, the fake ones seemed to appear more frequently than before. However, he would always pretend that he didn't notice. If he were to question her about it, it would only make her feel uncomfortable and even sadder, and he didn't want that.

"I see" he said before walking past her into the hallway. He grabbed his jacket from the hanger next to the door. He put it on and was just about to leave when he felt Chrome's arms around his waist.

She hugged him tighter and pressed her right cheek against his shoulder blade.

"I…" she started carefully "Kyoya" she made a pause and bit her bottom lip.

Hibari just stood there; waiting for her to say whatever it was that she had to say.

"Uhm…" Chrome continued "The thing is…"

Hibari grabbed her wrists and made her release her grip of him before turning around towards her.

"The meeting won't be long" he told her "I'll be back in a few hours. We'll talk then".

Chrome nodded shortly.

"I'm… going to the headquarters" she informed him quietly "Can you come there after the meeting?"

"Mm" Hibari said, not really caring where they met "Don't forget to lock the door when you leave". After that, he left the apartment, leaving Chrome by herself.

What she was about to tell him was so important, she hadn't been able to say it in such a short amount of time.

Staring at the door, she wondered how Hibari would react when she told him. There were only two possible reactions she thought that she could expect from him.

The first one was absolute frustration and rage. He might destroy everything around him, which was why she wanted to tell him back at the Vongola headquarters which was more spacious and had less furniture that might get in the way of his fury.

The other reaction would be total indifference. He would be too shocked and upset to even do anything. He would get up from his seat and simply leave the room and never want to speak to her ever again.

Neither of those possibilities seemed very attractive to Chrome. But she realized that it was better telling him now than to have him figure it out later himself.

Chrome waited in the Japanese garden outside Hibari's private room at the headquarters. She was one of the few who had access to that room and according to Hibari himself, the only one who he had willingly given permission to be around. After all, she was the only person who could be close to him without making him feel crowded.

High stone walls surrounded the small garden to keep unwanted spectators away. There was also an invisible shield surrounding the wall, making it impossible to climb up on the outside, unless you were the tenth cloud guardian of Vongola.

The garden itself had a pond with several bright coloured koi-fishes in. They were rather tame, and were always expecting to be feed whenever anyone showed up.

Other than the pond, there was a lot of greenery and small flowers growing here and there.

A gravel path led the way through the garden and ended by a wooden bench further off, where Chrome had seated herself.

While waiting for Hibari, she watched the fishes peacefully swim back and forth through the water and couldn't help smiling at them.

About three hours after her arrival here, Hibari showed up.

He took of his jacket and hung it over his arm before stepping out in the garden and the sunlight. He walked over to the bench and stood in front of Chrome.

"Have you been out here all this time?" he asked and loosened his tie.

Chrome took her eyes from the fishes and looked up at him.

"Kyoya" she said slowly.

Hibari sighed and put the jacket next to Chrome on the bench. He then crouched down in front of her and took her hands in his.

"You've been really quiet today, huh?" Hibari said and closed his eyes as he was speaking. He made a pause and then looked back up at her "What was it you had to tell me?"

Chrome had almost forgot about it, so now that he was reminding her about it, she instantly felt insecure and nervous again.

"I…" she began. She looked at him hesitantly.

"Go on" he said simply, with a hint of impatience in his dark voice "It can't be that hard".

Chrome lowered her gaze and looked at their hands. She swallowed hard before deciding to just spit it out already.

"I'm… pregnant" she mumbled, loud enough for him to hear.

There was a long awkward silence after that. Neither of them seemed to come up with anything to say, and Chrome was too afraid to look up and see what his reaction would be.

After about five minutes, Hibari spoke up.

"Are… you sure?" he asked.

"Yes" Chrome nodded said and carefully pulled her hands away from his hold "I'm… sure".

"I thought… I thought you said you couldn't…" Hibari continued. He didn't sound angry or cold, just confused and perhaps a little shocked.

"I thought so too" Chrome said and gripped the hem of her skirt "I… I really didn't know… I'm sorry…"

Hibari stood up.

Chrome's eye widened. She feared that Hibari would walk away from her and never as much as look her way again. But he didn't.

"I… can't say I was expecting this" he said and sighed. He looked down at her and realized that she must have feared what his reaction would be "Are you afraid?" he inquired "Are you afraid that I'll leave you?"

Chrome gasped silently. Then she nodded hesitantly.

"Don't worry about it" Hibari said "This is my responsibility as well. I won't let you deal with it alone".

Chrome raised her head to meet his gaze.

"B-but…" she stuttered "The mafia wouldn't agree to a child…"

"I know" Hibari cut her off. He picked up his jacket from the bench and brought out a small, dark blue box from one of the pockets.

"What's that?" Chrome asked curiously. It wasn't one of his box weapons. It was smaller… and blue.

Hibari glanced at her and then the box before handing it to her.

"For you" he muttered shortly.

"Huh?" Chrome said and accepted the box, though a bit confused. This was strange. Hibari wasn't the type to give presents just like that. Of course, she had received presents from him on her birthday and on Christmas, but never on an ordinary day like this.

When she opened it, she was rather shocked to see a beautiful silver ring with a glistening diamond on. It wasn't over the top, neither was it too simple. It was… perfect.

"Wh-what…?" she said stunned.

And before she knew it, Hibari had actually gone down on one knee, making her stare at him in shock.

"Chrome" he said seriously. He took her left hand in his right "I have been planning on doing this for quite some time, but it seemed that the right moment never came" he paused, and Chrome could swear she saw his cheeks flush slightly pink "I wasn't expecting it to happen like this, but I will ask you now anyway" he took a deep breath "Will you… marry me?"

Chrome blinked a few times at him before staring at the ring in disbelief; as if she couldn't believe what was happening. She never would have thought that Hibari Kyoya would actually propose to her. She couldn't say she was unhappy about it though.

When she didn't answer, Hibari was starting to get impatient and a bit nervous.

"Hey" he said after a while "Say something already".

"Eh?" Chrome woke up from the 'trance' she was in and looked back up at him "Are you… serious?"

Hibari grimaced.

"You think I would joke about something like this?" he inquired.

"Then…" Chrome said slowly "Yes… Of course".

Hibari granted her one of his rare smiles and helped her put the ring on her finger. In return, he received an affectionate kiss from Chrome, who also smiled. And this smile wasn't fake; it was more real than any other smile she had ever given him.