Author's Note: I'm not quite sure if this one's all that good. I'm still a bit confused as to whether or not I like this piece or not. I wrote it out of deathperation, because I simply needed to write more with Kyouya and Chrome. I love this pairing so much. Far too much for my own good, I'm afraid. Anyway, please try to enjoy this...

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Loving her was painful. For him, anyway. He'd never 'loved' a woman before, let alone felt this way for anything. He was nineteen, and ever since he met her three years before, she'd been a constant thing on his mind. Ever since he'd freed her from Mukuro's influence, she'd become a tolerable woman. Long purple hair, two sharp violet eyes, though one was artificial. Slender shape, curvy, yet not too curvy. She was everything he wanted in a woman, and yet, he couldn't bring himself to make a move.

Hibari Kyouya didn't see the need to 'make moves'. He waited for them to come to him. But with Chrome, he couldn't wait for her. He couldn't wait for her to come to him. He didn't want to get closer to her, because of his duties as the Head Prefect, but he didn't want someone else to take her from him. Then there were his Guardian duties…

He stood alone, on the roof of the school, the place he went to whenever he wanted to be alone with his thoughts, and leaned up against the wire fence, his hands in his pockets. Hibird chirped from his left shoulder, as Roll sniffed the ground at his feet for stray crumbs from the previous lunch. It was peaceful up there, and he could easily relax and let his guard down. With the open sky above his head, he felt nothing binding him, restraining him.

Just like when he looked into her eyes. He felt free. He felt the wind brushing the sides of his face in the gentle touch of her fingers. He felt the brightness of the sun wash over him in the softness of her eyes. He felt the sweetness of summer in the taste of her lips. She was his sky, his place to come back to when he couldn't find the celestial blanket above his head.

When he didn't want to be alone anymore.

The door to his right creaked open, and a small figure stepped out, long purple hair free and loose, subjected to the restless wind. Her eyes were bright as they settled upon him, the solitary figure against the fence. Chrome smiled to herself, and walked out, shifting her white shirt and gray skirt, crossing the roof to where he stood, eyes closed, relaxing, sensing her presence but choosing not to acknowledge it. She was making him nervous, and she hadn't even said anything yet.

"Kumo-san," she said, stopping in front of him, her hands behind her back. "So this is where you've been."

"What of it?" he asked smoothly, his eyes opening. Roll sniffed at Chrome's shoes warily, but once he deemed her harmless, or identified her scent, he lifted his front paws and braced them on her ankle.

Chrome knelt down, and smiled, rubbing the top of the hedgehog's head gently. "Because, I was looking for you."

"Why would you do that?" Hibird chirped from his shoulder, and took off, beating his little wings until he landed safely on Chrome's shoulder. She lifted her head, smiling back at Kyouya through her violet eyes.

"Boss and the others were worried about you," she answered simply, standing back up. "And I was too. You've kept your distance ever since that sparring match you had with Boss, and I've been worried about you. You haven't even glanced in my direction for the past week, Kumo-san. Did I do something? Or say something that angered you?"

Kyouya didn't move. Didn't answer. At this moment, he knew she was expecting an answer. But he also knew that she was the one that the others had sent as a messenger, to act as their liaison between the head herbivore and him. That angered him. The only thing that pissed him off more than weakness, was the lack of integrity the herbivore was displaying at the moment. Kyouya couldn't stand that the herbivore didn't have the courage to ask Kyouya himself if he was feeling alright, and had instead resorted to forcing Chrome to do his dirty work. The nerve of that weak animal.

Then there was the matter of Chrome, and her plight. He wasn't angry with her. He wasn't angry at any of them. He wasn't angry with Tsunayoshi either. He was frustrated. He was frustrated with her. He recalled the looks she'd been giving him while she'd been sitting on the sidelines, as if she'd wanted to say something to him, to open her up to him. But none of them had been at all threatening. But it didn't make sense. He hadn't been avoiding her, at least on purpose. She just hadn't crossed his path for the past week as he completed his duties.

But something still wasn't connecting. Something was still out of place. He knew she was grateful for freeing her from being Mukuro's puppet, or at least assisting her with freeing herself, but that didn't explain why she clung to him. She kept hanging around him, crowding him. She may mean a lot to him, but he was still curious. He knew what she was to him, now he wanted to know what he was to her. He wanted a straight, no-nonsense answer to that question. But asking was something that he'd have difficulty with.

"Kyouya," she murmured softly. His eyes opened within a split second. No honorifics. She was serious. Roll blinked, Hibird falling silent on her shoulder. Suddenly, the sky above him didn't feel as open and bright anymore. He couldn't escape.

"Tch." He lifted himself from leaning against the wire fence, and started for the door, Roll and Hibird following close behind. Chrome watched from over her shoulder, silent.

So she had done something. He'd left her. She knew she'd angered him. She knew that she'd crossed the line, stepped across the bounds he'd laid out for her. But his name had escaped her lips. It felt so good to finally speak it, to weave it into her voice, to let some of her feelings go in that one word that meant so much to her. It went beyond the fact that he'd saved her. She was grateful, and she knew that he knew that, but that didn't matter to her anymore. She just wanted him for who he was. She knew he was lonely, and wanted to change that. That's all.

No, that wasn't all. She knew that wasn't all. She knew the true extent of her feelings toward him. She knew that it was killing her to keep that burden fully pressed inside herself, to keep it locked away each and every time she looked at him. Every time she heard his voice, looked into his lonely eyes, felt his heart under her palm. She knew how much she cared for him, how much she ached for him. But telling him was out of the question. Her only option was to let him watch her heart bleed.

"Kyouya," she said. "Wait."

He didn't stop.

She narrowed her eyes, and bit into her bottom lip as she ran across the roof to reach him before he walked through the door, before he denied her completely. Reaching out with both arms, she wrapped her arms around him from behind, her palms resting on the inside of his shoulders as she pressed the side of her face into his back, closing her eyes. Getting ready for him to push her away. Preparing for the wound to open up, to rip her to shreds from the inside.

"Kyouya," she pleaded, her muffled against his shoulder blade. "Don't leave."

"Let go," he answered. "Or I'll bite you to death."

"Please," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Don't go."

He didn't move.

"Why have you been avoiding me for this past week?" she pressed, tightening her grip on him. She knew that he could break free whenever he wanted, for she knew that he hated to be restrained, but it gave her some peace of mind. "Why haven't you been looking at me when I cross your path? Why haven't you seen me, yet?"

"Those are," he started smoothly, his voice soft, "stupid questions."

"You won't answer them then?" He said nothing. "Kyouya, I can tell that you're in pain, that you don't want to be alone anymore. I know you hate crowds, but just stay with us. Boss is really, really worried, and so are the others. We know how much you care about us, whether or not you want to admit it."

He stayed silent.

"And if you can't," she whispered, her arms beginning to shake, "I'll follow you. So that you aren't alone anymore."

"I'll bite you to death," he answered. "If you don't let go."

"We want you to come back, Kyouya," she continued, heedless of his tightening fists at his sides.

He wanted her to let go, to get away from him. He didn't want to hear anymore. He wanted to be alone. He didn't want to be tied down by anyone. He wanted these feelings to stop pulsing. He wanted his heart to stop beating so fast. He wanted his breath to stop catching. He wanted all of these things, but he knew deep down, that her letting go would hurt far worse than any one of those things ceasing to exist.

He twisted in her grip, spinning around and taking hold of her face in his hands, surprising both Chrome and Hibird, and leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. Chrome reacted immediately, kissing him back despite her shock and surprise. The fire in his veins, the same fire that the mere glance of her eyes ignited within him, exploded at the contact, wanted more, craved more, possessed him from deep inside, burned his iron-fisted walls down as her lips melded with his fully.

Burning. She was burning. Her skin was hot against his, her arms were tensed around his neck, her hands were brooding in his hair, her lips were hungry against his. Her heart was lusting as it beat against his, her body was burning hot as it fell into his, surrendering herself completely as she gave into his touch against her skin.

In this momentary lapse of judgment, Kyouya felt free.

Though restrained by her arms around his neck, her hands clutching the sides of his head, her fingers locked in his raven-colored locks, her lips firmly pressed against his, he felt weightless. He felt like he was drifting, the solitary cloud in the warmth of the sky, moving about freely. She was his sky. She was his freedom. She was everything he loved in life, everything he wanted from life. She was everything to him. He pulled back, dropping one hand from her face.

"You'll come back, won't you?" she asked softly. He brushed her bangs from the right side of her face, looking into both of her eyes hesitantly.

"As long as I get to bite that herbivore to death," he answered. Chrome smiled, and averted her eyes.

"I can't promise you that," she replied.

"I didn't want to hear it from you." Kyouya lifted his hand from her, and turned, walking toward the door. "Chrome."

"Yes?" He glanced back, his pale silver eye soft.

"Follow me."