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Takeshi adjusts his sleeves and straightens his suit. He opens the door of their black car, with blacker windows, and, like it’s a habit, holds out his elbow for his partner inside.
Chrome places a delicate silver heel out the door first, finding her footing, before she lifts herself out the seat, elegantly as if she is floating, and into Takeshi’s arm. He closes the door behind them and thanks their driver, smiling amiably.
As their car rolls away, rumbling lowly on the gravel, they make their way towards the white mansion, glowing ethereally in the night, where tonight’s ball is held. More importantly, where Don Francesco will be partaking.
Here’s how the game is meant to go: Chrome will arrive with Takeshi in tow, playing the pretty femme fatale hanging off his arm. After mingling with the crowd and participating in some dancing, the Don would notice an Austrian noblewoman feigning upset that her fiancé would rather chatter to others and approach her. Humbled, the simple fiancé doesn’t say no when the Don asks the femme fatale for a dance, and the woman is more than happy to be swept away. The two enjoy a romantic waltz while the fiancé sneaks off into the mansion’s hallways to plant bugging devices in the Don’s private office and retrieve some files off his computer. When the fiancé returns, he is distraught by the closeness of the femme fatale and the Don, and the two engaged argue until they decide to depart early.
At this point, Takeshi would typically offer some words of encouragement for the long night ahead and for the total farce they’re creating – but Chrome is giggling, smiling up at him like he’s hung the stars, and Takeshi knows they’ve already started playing long ago.
As they walk across the gravel towards the mansion, Chrome’s stiletto heels stumble over some gravel. Instinctually, Takeshi reaches out to steady her. Just as instinctually, Chrome makes a grab for his wrist. When the two meet in the middle, Chrome turns away and hides a shy giggle, mired just a fraction with insecurity. Honestly, it feels so genuine that Takeshi can’t help but feel a little frightened – or perhaps uneasy was the better word.
“Be careful,” he says, and adds a smidge of exasperation in his tone. Was this right? He’s trying to be a team player and match her energy, but a quick glance at her for reassurance immediately lets him know that he’s no longer talking to Chrome.
She tucks curly hair behind her ear, revealing eyes that look slightly chastised, and a long, delicate earring that shows the slender line of her throat.
“Thank you,” she says, and it’s not Chrome’s voice at all – drawling and forward in a way that she isn’t, but she was speaking in the car with him earlier – perhaps to get him acclimated, so his uneasiness isn’t entirely visible. She pinches her red silk dress by the hip and lifts it slightly, revealing her heels laced up to her ankles, and makes an effort to walk more carefully, even though Takeshi knows she doesn’t need to be observant about where she steps, because Chrome notices everything, even when it seems like she isn’t looking.
Man, he’s being seriously outplayed here.
Takeshi sees the story she’s weaving – beautiful but imaginable, intelligent but naïve, gracious but affected. It’s a dramatical play, and Takeshi’s just another line in her script. He thinks it’s a little cruel of her to be wearing that red dress though – deep and dark as wine or blood, accompanied by perfume that is sweet and smoky – but Chrome is probably not trying to be cruel. She’s probably trying to make things easier, by showing him something more familiar.
Ha. Wonder what that says about him.
They approach the towering wooden doors. Chrome’s graceful steps sweep the eyes of other guests loitering around in the gardens. Takeshi tries not to fiddle. Chrome wields the spotlight like an instrument – a tool that commands and defines her space, but haha. Having that many eyes pointed his way reminds him of high school – even if they’re not looking at him, right now.
“Names?” the man at the door politely asks, tablet in hand.
“Luis Hirano,” Takeshi says, needing to explain his Japanese ethnicity.
“Emilia Auer,” Chrome follows, looking every bit like the Austrian noblewoman they have on file, shrouded in mist flames.
The man locates them quickly and checks them in. He gestures to two security men standing by the door, who frisks them both down.
They won’t be finding any weapons, of course, because Takeshi isn’t carrying anything, and Chrome looks like she’s not wearing enough to hide something. She has a knife strapped to her thigh, but the man frisking her doesn’t actually touch her out of modesty, and completely misses the weapons she has on hand. It’s kind of funny.
When the men are done, they hold open the door for them. Takeshi nods his thanks and takes Chrome’s hand in his – the shine of their silver engagement rings catching the light instead of their Vongola ones.
It’s quite disconcerting, having his Vongola ring invisible to his eye due to Chrome’s illusions. Even when he rubs his finger with his thumb, over where he knows he normally keeps it, he doesn’t feel it. When he tries to draw on it with his flames, visualising the wave of Rain wash over his body, something stops him from fully manifesting it. It feels like an unpleasant irritation that can’t be scratched, because he doesn’t know where it itches. Haha, it’s a blessing and a curse that Chrome’s this good.
He knows she’s currently scanning the room with him in guise of admiration for the grandeur of the ballroom, checking the exits, windows, blind spots.
“He’s by the three men in black, towards the pillar,” she whispers, voice barely audible over the classical music, performed by a live orchestra at the front of the room. Haha, wow! They’re pretty good – and fancy, but Takeshi doesn’t know enough about music to judge beyond that. If Gokudera were here, he would make some sort of grumbling comment about his lack of culture.
But it’s just him and Chrome. Luis and Emilia. He spots Don Francesco, standing languidly exactly where she said he was.
He laughs. If it’s a tinge uneasy, Chrome’s the only one around to hear him, and she shows no reaction.
“Shall we?” he asks.
They head down the steps, drawing some curious eyes and lingering stares. It’s attention they want, which means everything’s going smoothly, but Takeshi is trying his darndest to try and get the memo – trying to read his partner, who’s first an inscrutable wall and second an entirely different person, with different footwork, breaths and cadence. What is Chrome trying to do here? Does she want to dance to get close? Or drink and mingle to observe the Don further?
Luis Hirano is meant to be a man who’s foolhardy and flighty, ignorant of his missus and drawn to the flowing dresses of other women around him. Basically, Takeshi understands this; he’s the key role in getting Chrome from here to the Don, so he needs to lead, but how?
As he’s contemplating, he feels a small squeeze on his hand. He tries not to look too surprised when he glances over at Chrome.
“Just smile,” she murmurs, and suddenly everything and nothing makes sense.
Back at Vongola’s Headquarters in Italy, Gokudera had been tearing his hair out over this problem for weeks. Don Francesco was supposed to be on favourable terms with the Vongola, his territory bordering theirs, but recently, he was pushing into their land.
Now, normally, Families don’t go out of their way to slight the Vongola like this, unless they thought they could prey on Tsuna’s reputation – that he was soft, easy. Takeshi watched as Gokudera launched into an almost obsessive frenzy, overlooking Francesco’s people, weapons, movements, etc. It was amusing to watch, until they had injured the man Tsuna sent over to negotiate. Now that they knew he was hostile, it was a matter of figuring out what made him hostile. So, Tsuna sent out Chrome.
After Chrome went out to do whatever she did, she came back with a new face and name that was all but hers until she wanted to let it go. The only problem was that Tsuna refused to let her go alone.
Before Takeshi, there was Sasagawa-senpai. The less said about Sasagawa-senpai and covert missions, the better.
They had briefly considered Lambo, but the kid still wore his heart out on his sleeve.
Gokudera was all-round capable of doing anything assigned to him, but he just didn’t understand Chrome. Gokudera never said this aloud, but Takeshi had a feeling the Storm Guardian was unnerved by her.
Normally, Chrome takes undercover missions with Hibari. The two are surprisingly…well close is the wrong word, but they work well as a duo – Chrome teaches Hibari how to break illusions, and Hibari teaches her how to break bones. But Hibari was in Namimori at the moment, doing something or the other.
Tsuna had volunteered himself, but was quickly shut down by the three of them.
Which left Takeshi.
Tsuna, Gokudera, Chrome and Takeshi were sitting around in Tsuna’s office, paper strewn over the floor, pens and ink splattered across the pages.
They had discussed what role Takeshi was meant to play. Her friend? Brother?
Friend was too candid – it was almost unbelievable for two friends to invite each other ballroom dancing to one of the Austrian socialites’ most prestigious parties, without something going on between them. So no, nil.
Chrome as a sister? Takeshi has been an only child all his life – he wouldn't know how to act around a sister, much less a sister like Chrome. He couldn't imagine it.
"For fuck's sake, be her pack mule or something!" Gokudera growled, frustrated hands working through his hair. "Carry her purse! Bring her champagne!"
Takeshi was seriously considering this, because everything else they'd suggested sounded impossible for him to pull off without ruining Chrome's profile, but then the Mist herself spoke up.
"Be my fiancé," she said. Silently, she held out her arm.
Without thinking, Takeshi hooked his elbow around hers and smiled.
Chrome carefully looked back at him, greeting him with a small upturn of her lips. "All you need to do is smile."
She turned to Tsuna, eyes inscrutable. "He can do that."
Some sort of understanding passed between them – for once Takeshi was out of the loop. Gokudera was physically trembling to hold back some sort of bite, as they awaited Tsuna's judgement.
"Alright, Chrome. Let's do it your way," Tsuna says, smiling gently. The twinkle in his eyes suggested that he was amused by all this.
Which, score. Tsuna was driving himself mad over this, and Takeshi and Gokudera were driving themselves mad trying to figure out how to make him less mad.
It's a win-win, but Takeshi doesn't quite know how Chrome managed to do it. He'll have to ask her later, if she's in the mood to answer.
Takeshi levels her with a grin, taking her arm in his. She’s right - Luis Hirano is just meant to smile and do as he liked. He’s kind of embarrassed that he’s getting worked up over something so simple. He flags down a member of the floor staff, and grabs a flute of champagne for her and himself.
“Mi Amor,” he says, clinking his glass with hers.
“Cara Mio,” she replies gently.
If the people in the vicinity hear that Emilia Auer has Italian blood running through her, well, that’s unintentional.
It would be a while before word reached the Don – Takeshi could speed up the process a little. He finishes his flute, faster than Emilia did, and hails for another one. When he finishes that too – because Luis is here to have some fun, he puts their empty glasses away and waits for the next song to start. He pulls his fiancé out onto the dance floor, twirling her away from swaying couples and onto the centre.
Takeshi has no clue how to waltz – doesn’t even know where to put his hands – but Emilia reaches for his shoulder and locks her fingers in his, and the movements come almost naturally.
To the casual observer, the two seemed to be engaged in a fervent dance, unspoken tensions leading Luis’s restive steps and dragging Emilia’s.
“Hah…you’re pretty good at this,” Takeshi says quietly, being absolutely led, like a puppet on a string, by Chrome’s faultless dancing. He’s trying to observe the people around him and mimic what they’re doing but finds that he doesn’t really need to. Chrome is effortlessly guiding him towards the right steps, with miniscule movements of her arms and body, to the point where Takeshi is kind of sure that even if he were to close his eyes, she could still wordlessly tell him what to do perfectly.
Chrome smiles at him. He’s not sure if she’s amused or nonplussed.
They practise for a bit longer, leading into the second song with unfaltering steps. When Takeshi looks at Chrome – really looks at her – seeing through her sorrowful smile that’s actually quite apprehensive, through her eye that doesn’t really look quite like anything, because Chrome has never really managed to make her right eye manifest the way it was, well, before, he begins to understand her a little.
She’s going to let him go, and she’s going to have to place a little trust in him.
Haha. Trust is a new element in this game between him and Chrome. He’s already giving her so much of it – by not carrying Shigure Kintoki, by giving her control over his ring, by letting her adapt to his improvisations. The hardest part is encouraging her to do the same, because Takeshi is a team player, but Chrome has always been alone.
When the second song ends, he leans down and gently kisses her hand - kissing her finger where she normally keeps her Vongola ring.
If she’s surprised, she doesn’t show it.
The third song starts, they separate, and Takeshi (Luis) charms a young woman into accepting his hand with his smile, leading her to the dance floor. Across the ballroom, Emilia hesitates, lost and disappointed, before she wanders off to the side to flag herself another drink. Alone, some women approach her and talk to her, and some men try to coax her into dancing.
Takeshi would try to keep an eye on her more, but if he continues sneaking glances at her, he’s going to lose focus and totally mess up her ploy. Instead, he looks back at the pretty young girl in his arms and cheerfully engages her in conversation. By the end of the dance, she’s completely enamoured with him, but Luis is flighty, and picks another girl on the side to have his fourth dance with. Takeshi grimaces internally, silently apologising.
At this point, he’s completely lost Chrome, too focused instead on playing his part. After another flute of champagne, a few more dances and a few more exchanged conversations filled with boisterous laughter, Luis is effectively a little more than tipsy, and certainly uncurious about what his fiancé is getting up to. In fact, he might be feeling a bit too dizzy, and he might have to stumble into the bathroom for a break.
When people begin to forget about Luis, they start to look at Emilia. Who did she come with tonight, again? Her large, forlorn eyes beg for a companion.
Enter, Don Francesco. Luis exits stage left.
A quick glance for confirmation shows the Don approaching Chrome, who looks at the boss hopefully.
Okay, Takeshi’s turn. Let’s not drop the ball, here.
He stumbles into the shadows of the corridor, leaning on the wall for support. Once he’s sure he’s out of everyone’s line of sight, he straightens up and hurries to the Don’s office, not quite running.
Here comes the most difficult part of the game. Takeshi and Chrome are isolated: Takeshi unarmed and alone in the mansion, Chrome surrounded by hostile Familiga. The Vongola ring is still hidden, but Takeshi presses his finger to his lips in silent support.
He has the mansion layout memorised in his head – it’s only a matter of getting there without being caught. Chrome could easily do all this herself, he thinks. She is the perfect solo act – the heroine, the distraction, the phantom enemy.
The problem is the Don’s men – there are far too many of them dispatched in the mansion tonight. If something went wrong during Chrome’s mission – well, she would be truly alone.
Takeshi slips by security loitering around the hallways, silently dispatching those who he couldn’t avoid. He makes it to the office without issue and tries the handle.
Locked. Well, Takeshi is an optimist. From the cuff on his sleeve, he pulls out a small pin from underneath a button – nothing ordinary, courtesy of Gokudera, who got too frustrated trying to teach him how to lockpick and made him a device that does it for him automatically.
He fits it into the lock. With a click, the door opens. Takeshi slips in and shuts the door quietly behind him, cutting out the hallway lights and enveloping him in darkness. He hopes the office doesn’t have a heat sensor, or cameras. He’s always been lucky, so here’s to hoping. He walks in a circle and waves an arm in the dark. No alarm.
He flicks the light switch on and gets to work. First, he plugs the USB thingy into the computer. It completely bypasses all security and starts locating files to download. Haha wow. That was fast. He should tell Giovanni that when he gets back.
Next, he goes around the room putting bugging devices: a camera on the bookshelf, pointed downwards at the Don’s working space, and a listening device in the crevice in his chair. Takeshi scans the room for anything else that might be of interest, but besides an assorted row of what looks to be small cartoony ponies, all of varying colours on his desk, the Don doesn’t seem to be hiding anything scandalous.
The USB finishes downloading, and alerts Takeshi with a soft ping. He safely ejects the device and tucks it into his pants pocket. He flicks the lights off, ready to leave like no one’s ever been here, when he hears footsteps thundering down the hallway.
“There’s an intruder!” a voice calls. “Alert the Don!”
Haha. Oh shit.
The men he knocked out probably got back up faster than he anticipated. He briefly entertains a myriad of thoughts: where should he go next? How many men are out there? What about Chrome?
He waits until the footsteps fade then carefully opens the door. Curiously, no one bothers checking the room. Without fanfare, he shuffles down the corridor and rounds a corner. He immediately catches the attention of two men on standby in the hallway.
There’s a tentative second where no one says anything, everyone looking at each other. Then the men yell.
“You!”
“Intruder!”
Takeshi flashes them a grin and kicks away the gun of the man closest to him. He quickly grabs the man and puts him in front as his partner shoots, firing one bullet into the man’s torso before he quickly withdraws with a curse.
Takeshi throws the men into each other and they go down with a pained grunt. He grabs the gun from the ground and pistol whips them both, knocking them out cold.
When he’s done, he straightens his jacket. He hears some footsteps running back, alerted by the gunshot. Well, there goes his cover. Haha, Reborn is going to give him that look.
Takeshi thinks. He can either meet them halfway and fight his way out, or find another way to get to Chrome before people start remembering she arrived with a partner, who is coincidentally and unfortunately missing during this commotion.
Second option, then.
He takes off in the other direction, running around the labyrinth of the hallways until he arrives on the second floor of the ballroom. He quickly peers over the edge of the balcony, spotting Chrome looking perfectly worried and confused next to the Don as his men relay details of the intruder.
Don Francesco’s face gets redder the longer he listens to his men, before he explodes and erupts into enraged yelling, throwing his arms around and making Emilia flinch. Uh oh. They should get out of here before the Don realises the problem.
The men have surrounded the floor, blocking off the exit and hounding guests to stay put. One of them, a Mist user, uses his flames to scan guests to see who’s using illusions. Double uh oh. They didn’t anticipate Don Francesco having flame users. He’s pretty confident there is no Mist user outside of Tsuna’s immediate acquaintances strong enough to dismantle Chrome’s illusions, but they could probably detect that she was using flames if they were skilled enough.
As he’s contemplating how to subtly get from the second floor to the first, men burst in through the doors surrounding the balcony.
“It’s him!” one of the men yells, and everyone below looks up.
Takeshi laughs sheepishly and leaps down.
“Stop him!”
Guests yell and scatter. Before he even lands on the ground, men have him surrounded, guns raised. Takeshi falls safely, before he raises his hands in surrender.
“Haha, let’s figure something out, guys!” he says, looking around.
The men keep their guns raised. Well, worth a try.
Don Francesco approaches him, parting the crowd in waves. The Mist user Takeshi spotted earlier trails behind him smugly. Takeshi’s smile falls when he sees Chrome dragged by her hair, gripped tightly in Don Francesco’s fist. Her face pinches in pain when he brandishes her in front of Takeshi.
“Don’t get cocky, Vongola’s Rain Guardian.”
Startled, Takeshi glances at his hand. His ring is back on his finger. What happened to the illusion?
He recalls his first fight – his first real fight back when the Guardians fought the Varia, and remembers Mammon mentioning that illusionists were especially susceptible to pain.
He stares fiercely at the hand holding Chrome.
The Don follows his gaze and laughs.
“You baby Vongola don’t know the Mafia,” he snarls. “We have tradition. We have method. You’re just children who don’t understand the toys you’re playing with!”
“Should I kill your partner off first, or you?” he cackles, dragging Chrome by her hair and shaking her roughly.
She cries out, reaching up to her head. Pinpricks of tears gather at the corners of her eyes.
“Hey,” Takeshi says, a note of warning in his voice.
The Don flinches and almost takes a step back, but then gathers his resolve and points at Takeshi.
“I’ll kill you and this woman, then that scarso boss of yours. Let your corpses be a warning: Don’t mess with Don Francesco!”
He flicks his wrist and the men fire.
Or, they try to. The nozzles of their guns glow and bend downwards. The men yell in pain and drop their guns, stepping back, their palms sizzling red.
Takeshi instinctually reaches for Shigure Kintoki and falters when he remembers that he left it behind. He expects his grip to tighten around air, but is surprised when he feels the hilt of a sword.
He is absolutely dumbfounded when his sword is unsheathed as he draws it from his back, scratches littering its surface and bandages wrapped around it exactly as how he knows it to be. Before he can fully catch up, one of the men recovers and rushes him with a knife. Without thinking, he swings, cutting the man down where he stands.
The man falls and Takeshi assesses the blade. It feels a little off – too light and effortless as it slices through the air. He glances over at Chrome, who’s gazing back at him with a look he can’t decipher.
Less confident now that the Vongola Rain Guardian is suddenly armed, Don Francesco steps back. His men hesitate, awaiting their Boss’s orders, not eager to rush to death.
“Don’t move!” Francesco says, gesturing wildly at Takeshi. “I still have the woman–”
The Don lifts his arm, but Chrome is gone.
Startled, Francesco looks to his mist user, but he has also disappeared. There’s a startled yell, and they all look up. The Don’s Mist user struggles hopelessly from where he is pinned to the chandelier by vines – face pale as he tries, with little success, to break free from Chrome’s illusions.
Shadows slowly envelop the room, casting a dizzying haze and rising from the floor like apparitions. From the dark, Chrome steps forward to stand next to Takeshi, face cold and reticent, mist curling around her in tendrils. She’s back into her normal self – discarding Emilia as if she’s never existed, rising from ashes and dust anew. She brushes herself off casually – a deliberate show of apathy. Takeshi’s resounding grin is not exactly sane. He bites his lip to stop it from breaking his face.
Humiliated, the Don turns pink up to the top of his head. “Kill them!” he yells.
The men run at them with blades and fists.
“Swing again,” Chrome says. It’s such a huge relief that she’s speaking in her normal voice again, with her usual softness, that Takeshi can’t help but laugh.
Obligingly, he swings Shigure Kintoki again, and it’s heavier, more comfortable in his grip.
“Just right,” he says, smiling. He thinks Chrome smiles back at him, too.
He cuts down the men foolish enough to think they can charge without thinking, then the men flanking Chrome thinking they can target her because her back is turned.
Chrome holds her hand out and her pike falls from the air into her open palm. She slashes at the men who get too close. The men fall back, wary now that they are both armed.
“No illusions?” Takeshi asks, curious that the men around them are still standing, sane.
Chrome shakes her head. “Hibari told me to practise hand-to-hand.”
“Ah, alright,” Takeshi says, grinning. He’s got the memo perfect this time: no need to waste energy on fodder. Harsh.
The men surrounding the perimeter rush to the centre, crowding them. With the exits no longer blocked, guests run out, screaming.
Takeshi exhales in relief. Less to worry about.
He feels Chrome lightly press against his shoulders, watching his back. Swiftly, she strikes out and knocks three men down with deft movements of her hands. Takeshi smiles silently to himself. He can’t exactly lose now, can he?
“Boss said to not take it too far,” Chrome reasons.
“Hah! That’s true. But, um…I think we already did,” Takeshi replies.
Chrome hums and glances around, at the men in black sprawled across the room, groaning. She then looks at Francesco, who’s collapsed and crying, contemplatively.
“What should we do?” she asks, turning to Takeshi and tilting her head inquisitively.
Uh. Takeshi’s not cut out for thinking, or for dishing out commands. He briefly wishes Gokudera or Tsuna were here – or well, maybe not Tsuna, because he would freak out and give Takeshi that sad look.
“I’m not quite sure, haha! I don’t think we should leave him here, though,” he says, because if they’ve already gone this far, they should make sure Francesco stays down. “What do you think?”
Chrome’s eye widens slightly, surprised. Maybe she’s not used to giving out orders either. “I don’t know,” she admits meekly.
Takeshi puts his hand to his chin and hums. Chrome stares unblinkingly at Francesco.
They’re probably silent for a long time, because Francesco starts shaking so hard his teeth are almost clattering. “I’m–I’m sorry!” he cries, falling to his knees, forehead pressed to the ground. “I got ahead of myself! Please don’t hurt me! Please!”
Takeshi almost laughs, thinking about the face Gokudera will make once he’s read their reports. He holds it in though, because Gokudera told him that laughing when someone is grovelling is scary and not at all normal.
Then Chrome lets out a quiet “ah!” and Takeshi turns to her expectantly while the Don shrieks and covers his head.
“Um...I think… Francesco forgot what the Vongola does,” she says, and she looks to Francesco with something like pity, like she’s talking to an especially slow child, or a legless deer. “I think we should remind him again.”
Now. There’s a million different ways to interpret what she means by ‘remind’, but Takeshi’s pretty sure not a single one out of the million is nice. He hums and contemplates. Tsuna didn’t want Francesco killed and Chrome promised him it wouldn’t come to that, so murder is definitely off the list. That means Chrome is planning something else – and it’s probably not exactly ethical. Takeshi finds that he is okay with this. He’s probably more agreeable because he’s a little affronted that Francesco thinks he can get away with insulting Tsuna. Oh well.
They can argue their case with Tsuna later.
“Sure! What do you have planned?” Takeshi asks.
“I’ll give him a little nightmare,” Chrome coos, saying ‘nightmare’ like she’s talking about a cute dog or something. Haha, yikes.
“Um…should I go outside, or?” Takeshi asks, mostly out of courtesy. He’s hoping Chrome will kick him out, because he’s not sure if he wants to stick around.
“Please,” she says. She turns back to the Don. The world narrows down to just her, and whatever Francesco is seeing in her eye.
Takeshi makes it outside with a haste that is almost a sprint. Once he exits the mansion, Shingure Kintoki disappears, and his ring lights with blue flame. He exhales a sigh of relief. The front yard is completely deserted, with no signs indicating that there was ever a party here. Takeshi almost wants to pinch himself to see if he’s trapped in a particularly confounding and detailed dream.
He doesn’t wait long before Chrome emerges through the wooden doors, letting it fall closed softly behind her. He tries to peer over her shoulder and through the gap before the doors completely shut, but he doesn’t see anything.
“All done?” he asks, grinning.
Chrome nods silently. “Do you have the files…?”
Takeshi reaches into his pocket and pulls out the USB, holding it up to Chrome. “Got it right here!”
Chrome reaches out inquisitively. Takeshi drops it into her palm. She looks it over carefully, finger sliding over the lid in contemplation. Takeshi wants to pick her brain a little – to see what she’s seeing.
She hands it back without comment. Takeshi tucks it back into his pocket, unasked questions fading silently into the night sky.
“Well, I guess that’s that!” he says. He holds out his hand for a high-five. “Nice work, Chrome!”
For an awkward stretch of time, Chrome simply stares at him. He’s starting to worry if he’s read her wrong after all – maybe they’re not quite on the same wavelength yet. Then Chrome reaches out and tentatively slaps his palm, lips curled into a small smile.
It was a bit of a lame high-five, but Takeshi’s grinning wide enough to show teeth.
“Let’s go home,” he says.
“How many motherfucking pictures does this guy have?” Gokudera growls, smacking the right arrow key as he combs through photos and photos of rainbow ponies. “He’s a freak—WHAT IS THAT.”
He slams the laptop down before anyone can see what shocked him. Takeshi watches as Gokudera looks from the device to the window and puts a warning hand on the surface of the laptop before the Storm Guardian does something impulsive.
“Hey! I think it’s good that we haven’t really found anything incriminating yet, right, Tsuna?” he says, smiling at his friend, who has his head in his hands.
Tsuna groans and buries his face further into the depths of his arms. “That means I sent you and Chrome out for nothing! We harassed this guy for nothing!”
Gokudera straightens up and flails his arms around, trying to reassure Tsuna – even if the boy in question can’t exactly see it. “That’s not true, Tenth! He attacked one of ours. That’s not the actions of an innocent man.”
He smacks Takeshi’s hand away, grimaces, and continues smashing away at the arrow key. “I’m sure he’s hiding something insidious – no, I know he is! I’ll make sure I find it, then sink this fucking device in the North Sea!”
Takeshi looks to Chrome, who’s observing the interaction with either mirth or chagrin. He still can’t tell the difference, yet. She catches his eyes and smiles enigmatically. Takeshi grins back.
“Should we try the bugging devices, Boss?” she suggests.
Like she summoned the dead, Tsuna raises his head, zombified.
“Let’s do that later,” he replies, eyes weary. He looks between them, no doubt questioning their matching smiles. “You didn’t tell me what happened, in the end.”
Chrome’s eye widens. Takeshi looks to the floor. The pattern that he’s seen hundreds of times is suddenly very interesting.
“Um.”
“Well…Boss…”
“I found it!” Gokudera yells, thankfully interrupting whatever excuse they were going to come up with. “He was hiding something! He’s got suspicious transactions and calls over the last six months. You’re gonna want to see this, Tenth. He’s practically begging to be caught!”
Tsuna shoots Takeshi and Chrome one last look, before joining Gokudera at his desk.
Chrome huffs a silent laugh. When Takeshi looks over, she holds her finger to her lip, smiling.