Title: Cherry Blossom Fireworks
Rating: T
Pairing: 6918
Warning: language, violence and something that resembles romance!
Author's note: I got one review on Namimori Candy Baby suggesting I did a parallel story on Mukuro and Hibari, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it ^_^
They're quite independent though, that story and this one, so there's no need to read the first one to get this one! I estimate it to 3 capters total...

-

In retrospect, Mukuro reckoned he would have probably found the whole incident extremely amusing – if it had happened to someone else, that is… and there was plenty of time for restrospecting, because time was the one thing trapped people had enough of (too much of, in fact). 'Trapped' more or less defined Mukuro's constant state of being nowadays – had done for a while now, actually – but this particular predicament was different.

To the oblivious observer it looked a bit like he was taking a nap, which in itself wouldn't have been very odd, except that he was stark naked and draped out on the cold hard black and white checkered tiles of a bathroom.

He was also handcuffed to a toilet…

The bad thing was how absolutely and completely helpless he was. Because he couldn't change back (leaving his Chrome naked and handcuffed to a toilet in his place was most definitely out of the question), and he couldn't very well break loose from the damn thing either, because he would be showered in toilet water if he did. It didn't even occur to him to try calling for help.

But, even as he tugged helplessly at the handcuffs, he found he couldn't stop grinning, and his heart was beating almost giddily inside the cavity of his chest – God but he loved the guy!

Crazy, unpredictable, drop-dead gorgeous Hibari Kyouya…

-

Chapter 1
– it's all about keeping score –

-

Their first New Years Eve together was quite memorable, in many ways, and it happened in Italy, because Dino Cavallone had invited them all there to spend the holidays with him. Oh, and they weren't together.

It was nice, really. It was Sawada Tsunayoshi's first trip abroad, actually (but he had been to the future, so nobody made much of a fuss about it), and, incidentally, also Hibari's – but he wasn't embarrassed about anything in the whole wide world. So that was that.

Since Dino never did anything half-way, he really had invited them all, including Tsuna's steadily growing group of friends and/or Guardians, his family, and even Rokudo Mukuro and his little Kokuyou posse – even though they had tried to murder nearly all of team Vongola at various points (but then again, so had Hibari. And Gokudera. And Bianchi… and Reborn).

The flight over was an interesting affair though.
As it turned out, Chrome Dokuro didn't handle air travel very well and was clutching onto her seat like a kitten being dangled over a bathtub and Sasagawa Ryôhei, who was in die-hard denial about his own motion sickness (apparently real men did not get motion sickness), had to be practically shoved into the tiny bathroom stall so that he wouldn't be sick all over their seats. Hana might have been able to convince him to stay in there and be a good boy (they had been an 'item' for quite some time now, the two of them, and Ryôhei would have gladly run to the end of the world to pick her a blade of grass if she had asked him to), but as it were Hana seemed to have more pressing matters on her mind and kept answering all questions with one-syllable answers that, even then, didn't make much sense.
And so the enforcers of clean air and clean floors ended up being Yamamoto and Gokudera. Tsuna wasn't terribly keen on them spending too much time together though, because Gokudera spent most of the flight pretending to teach an eager Yamamoto greetings etcetera in Italian that were all really horrible, horrible insults and swearwords.

To make matters worse, Hibari had occupied the entire front half of the plane for himself. And because he had somehow managed to get both his bird and his weapons with him onboard, he had plenty of leverage to keep this half, thus effectively forcing the 16 other passengers to share the exactly 16 remaining seats in the back.
Only Ken was stupid enough to try and argue with him about it and after Hibari had knocked him unconscious with a safety brochure nobody else felt very much like giving it a try.

(Score: Hibari 1 – Mukuro 0)

-

New Years in Italy was, apparently, one huge party and, to the surprise of absolutely nobody (least of all Hibari), Dino turned out to be something of the glowing sun around which the social scene of Italy revolved. In addition to his visitors from Japan and his own entourage of loyal subordinates, he had also invited a select number of people in high positions and people from other families who had, or ought to have, some connection with the Vongola family. And so, on the final grand evening of the year, they were close to 300 people.

The Cavallone mansion (or this one, anyway, because thanks to Dino's clever financials the Cavallone famiglia owned real estate nearly all over country) had been constructed roughly half a century ago and came complete with elaborate frisks decorating the corners, curly Art Nouveau banisters, a huge ballroom with a huge piano and a banquet hall.
It looked, in other words, exactly like what you'd imagine.
Decorated for New Years Eve it looked even more fabulous, with all the lights dimmed down to a golden glow and vases of roses and freesias placed along the walls and the spacious air under the high ceilings filled with the sound of chattering voices and music and the scent of expensive food, expensive flowers and French perfume.

One particularly fun thing about celebrating New Years in Italy was that it gave them all the opportunity to dress up in western formal attire, and the girls especially thought this was so much fun that they decided to go shopping for new clothes already on the same day as they arrived. The boys had their suits, and since it is a universally accepted fact of nature that all men look handsome in suits, they didn't have to. So that was that.

Anyway, it was the second time that Team Vongola 10th could don their uniform, black suits together, and the first time they did so for reasons that did not involve their own potential Doom and/or complete Annihilation.

And that was nice.

Hibari Kyouya, of course, did not bring any such items of clothing with him, because he wasn't going to wear them – or he wasn't planning to (he had arrived in his prefect's uniform), but the Cavallone seemed to have anticipated this for he did, coincidentally, have a black suit and a shirt ready that just happened fit Hibari perfectly. Bucking Bronco had a knack for predicting his moods this way, which puzzled Hibari nearly as much as it annoyed him to the seven depths of hell.

He ended up wearing the suit, though.

The only reason he'd come along on this particular escapade with the chief Herbivore (Sawada) and his little crowd of herbivore pets to visit the herbivore with the whip, was because the baby had phrased the invitation in a way that indicated nearly all of the names listed in his personal Book of Death would probably be there.

His Book of Death was a mental list.

A lot of people keep lists over things they want to do before they die. Hibari had no such list but he did have a list of people he would like to make die, and on the night of the party he observed the crowd in vigilant silence from a private spot he had claimed for himself by the wall, secretly hoping he might catch a glimpse of one or more of them.

It was a (very) long list, but there were subtle differences attached to each of the names listed there.
Dino Cavallone was ranked 4th, but he would, of course, never kill Bucking Bronco, and deep down inside he also knew that he didn't want to. But Bronco was always good for a fight. Or rather, he was whenever Hibari could catch him. Lately Dino had become something of an expert at avoiding violent confrontations and Hibari was starting to suspect that he didn't enjoy them quite as much as Hibari did.
Yamamoto Takeshi was ranked under him again but, again, he just wanted to fight him for the fun of it.

Above Bucking Bronco was the Varia Rain, Superbi Squalo, with the long hair and the big loud mouth (they had challenged each other on two whole occasions, but so far it had never amounted to anything), and on 2nd place was the King of Monkey Mountains, Xanxus. Hibari hoped to be able to bite them both dead before he turned 20, which, if his calculations weren't entirely off, would be next spring.

Sawada Tsunayoshi and the baby were on it, too, but they were ranked in a different way altogether. And in the case of Sawada Hibari really only wanted to clobber him when the boy's forehead was on fire – he was really pathetically weak when it wasn't.

And then finally and firmly established on 1st place, there was him…

Hibari and Mukuro had only met each other twice since their infamous first encounter – the one that had very nearly killed him.

The first time was almost right after the ring battles when suddenly Mukuro had magically appeared on the school roof and told Hibari to stop searching for him.
"I'm not in school anymore," he had said with a serious expression and added with a joyless snicker that, arguably, he was not even really there at all and that the Mukuro whose intestines Hibari was currently trying to pulverize was merely an illusion made real.

Hibari wasn't very good (or very interested) in reading people's emotions, but he thought that Mukuro had seemed depressed.

The 2nd time was at another one of these social gatherings that seemed to sprout up like weed around Sawada (and, incidentally, around Bucking Bronco too) that he had intended only to show his face at for maybe 3 minutes and then leave, but in that very short time-span Mukuro, whom Hibari hadn't even noticed was there at all, had managed to spike his green ice-tea. And, as it turned out, Hibari's tolerance level when it came to alcohol was… low.

This was unfortunate because, right before that, Hibari had finally managed to threaten that damn quack with the mosquito army into giving him a proper antidote for that little sakura-sensitivity he had accidentally infected him with – and then that spineless, filthy, scumbag of an herbivore had somehow managed to figure out what his other only exploitable weakness was already on their second meeting!

It was unforgiveable and Rokudo Mukuro would die a thousand deaths at his hands personally for the impudence.
But they hadn't met since then, and Hibari hadn't had the chance.

(Score: Hibari 1 – Mukuro 2)

-

Mukuro took over sometime just after 8 and he spotted Hibari almost at once, as if by some secret instinct.

It was a ridiculously risky thing to do, of course, revealing himself like this in a place with approximately 300 people who might potentially recognize him and who might, potentially, try to kill him when they did… but the satisfaction, he decided, was definitely worth it. And Rokudo Mukuro was all about satisfaction.

The sheer number of people present seemed to somehow naturally divide Sawada's little crew into 2 different groups: those who handled crowds very well, and those who did not. Yamamoto Takeshi, Sasagawa Ryôhei, the girls (who weren't Chrome) and the children were having a blast, it seemed, talking to everyone and enjoying all the attention they were getting. Sawada Tsunayoshi, who got the most attention of all, looked on the contrary like he was on the verge of throwing himself out the window unless he could somehow conjure up an invisibility cloak or a black hole he could disappear into. And Gokudera Hayato, who knew most of these people from before, seemed to get grumpier with every passing second and spent the better part of the evening either fending off people who were curious about Tsuna, or avoiding the ones who seemed curious about him.

Hibari Kyouya had found a spot by one of the arced, ten-feet French windows that had either been empty when he got there or been emptied when he got there (it was kind of a 'the hen or the egg' thing, when it came to Hibari) where he could overlook the entire ballroom, and for the most part he was left alone. Most of the people who knew Dino Cavallone at all had probably already heard about him, Mukuro reasoned, and knew to tread carefully around him. But there was still a great number of people there who had no idea who he was and who had the nerve and misfortune to approach him before anyone could intercept.
It was wildly entertaining, of course, what with Hibari being Hibari and all.

Mukuro leant his back against the door, straight across the floor from Hibari, and chuckled with amusement as he observed one of these awkward little séances.
Someone, a man Mukuro didn't know, had come up to him with a drink, and even though Hibari did not accept it and continued to give him the Evil Eye, the man still hung around him awkwardly for a few moments. It was too far away to hear, but he was moving his mouth and had his hands deep in his pockets, until eventually he seemed to catch on and wander off with a defeated look on his face.

Hibari remained unfazed. He seemed distracted, somehow, like he was looking for something that ought to have been there or waiting for something to happen, and Mukuro realized this with a surge of quiet, swooping elation.

-

Hibari had little interest in the sort of mating rituals that seemed to take up most of the time and effort of his peers, and even if he recognized the sometimes less than subtle invitations he was getting, he didn't really understand them – the easiest thing would have been to just beat them all up for the impudence of intruding on his Personal Space, he thought. But there was a time and a place for everything and this was neither.
Plus, he had noticed that he was being watched by both Dino and Gokudera Hayato, who both seemed to find these occurrences so hilarious that they were actually wiping tears of laughter from their eyes.

Hibari glared.

He was just about to give up, thinking he might as well go up to sit on the roof and enjoy the view or maybe finish the book he was reading, when he looked up and his breath caught slightly as his eyes landed on an all-too-familiar face…

There he was, Rokudo Mukuro in the flesh, pretty as a punch in the face and leaning against a doorframe at the other side of the room.
The silky, blue-black hair fell down over his face like a curtain and he was glancing up sideways, his eyes fixed unflinchingly at Hibari. He smirked and, in an almost playful fashion, lifted his hand in a wave that was little more than a wiggle of his long fingers.

And it was really him. It was really, really Rokudo Mukuro, and Hibari felt something give inside him; like falling backwards or letting out your breath at once.

At the instant their eyes met, Hibari was overwhelmed by a wonderful rush of bloodlust and, welcoming it, he detached himself from the wall with a reptile smile, moving quickly and smoothly like a cat.

Finally!

(Score: Hibari 1 – Mukuro 3)

.

"Umh, shouldn't we stop them?"

Tsuna watched Hibari's retreating form from across the room with a sense of sinking dread in his stomach. He cast Dino a nervous glance. This would end up being his fault, he thought somberly, whatever happened it would somehow end up being his fault. "I mean, those two can be pretty… destructive."
A brief moment of silence followed this statement as they all remembered the infamous 'bar incident'.

He and Gokudera had joined the little group consisting of Reborn, Yamamoto, Ryôhei and don Cavallone himself, who had occupied a small sitting group in the corner that was probably worth an estate and were playing some sort of drinking game with a stack of playing cards and tiny shot glasses of something colorless that smelled like hospital.

But Dino, who was either winning handsomely or losing epically, depending on one's definition of victory in a drinking game, simply grinned brightly in response and waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, don't worry about it, little bro'! Let them have some fun."

Tsuna scratched his neck and muttered darkly, "… I don't think they're planning on having fun."

"What is it with those two anyway?" said Gokudera, looking annoyed as he lit himself a cigarette.

"I think they like each other," said Yamamoto Takeshi plainly, in a matter-of-factly tone of voice, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, seeing the openly shocked looks he was getting from the others, he laughed and added, "it's obvious, right? I just don't think either of them knows what to do about it."
He began to gesticulate with his hands, glass still in his hand, spilling drops of pungent alcohol on his suit without noticing.
"It's the same as when you're a kid, right – You bully someone because you really want their attention. I did that, too, when I was little." He grinned. "Now I just think it's cute to watch."

Gokudera squinted up at Yamamoto, his expression caught somewhere between disgust and disbelief but said nothing. Tsuna reckoned Yamamoto's observation probably ought to have jarred him far more than it did, but for some inexplicable reason it made all the sense in the world, and that realization did absolutely nothing to brighten his mood.

"Yeah, well," Gokudera took a long drag from his cigarette, "when one of those 'kids' is a sadistic agoraphobic and the other one is a bonafide sociopath it's not so cute anymore though is it?"

Author's note: as clichéd as this opening chapter is, I hope you still enjoyed reading it and that you'll want to read the rest – I just had to write it ^_^

Reviews would be AWESOME, thank you!