Happy Birthday, Chrome Dokuro

Rating: PG because G seemed too low for Mukuro POV
Characters: Haru, Mukuro, Chrome
Pairing: Mukuro/Chrome
Genre: Fluff/Comedy
Warnings: Mukuro point-of-view of Haru? None really.
Summary: Haru gives Mukuro some advice regarding Chrome.

Author's Notes: This story probably takes place at the beginning of October, although I don't know the exact day since the day Mukuro found Nagi was never really pinpointed. October just before Squalo makes his first appearance is implied, though (hmm, I wonder if one of the novels say...).
Also, this takes place in an alternate, happier future than the Future Arc, one where Mukuro is free and able to interact with the Kokuyo gang and Tsuna's family in his real body.

*********

"You know," Haru said with a disapproving tone, "for someone who goes on about having been to hell and reincarnation and all that, you really don't know anything."

"Excuse me?" Mukuro couldn't stop himself. He had been innocently poking through the library at the Vongola base, bored out of his skull and hoping for some light reading- the Bhagavad Gita, perhaps? Or maybe some Machiavelli?- to put him to sleep. Haru had been curled up in a chair, apparently engrossed in her own book, until she spoke. He knew he shouldn't respond to the girl, since that it would encourage her to stick her nose into his business and thus complicate his plans to take Sawada Tsunayoshi's body, but he did it anyway.

"You heard me." Haru put her book down. "You don't know anything about women."

He looked at her, his smile drooping in surprise. What did that have to do with anything?

"I can't believe you just sent Chrome off to Italy without you! Her birthday is in two days and she wanted to spend it with you!" Haru stood from her chair, put one hand on her hip and poked him in the chest with the other. "It should have been obvious! Even Yamamoto could tell!"

Ooh, that was a low blow. "I resent that," Mukuro grumbled. "And Chrome’s birthday isn’t for-"

"Two days, you idiot!" She poked his chest again. "Her special day is in two days. She told me herself." She folded her arms under her breasts. "Mukuro-san, you really need to learn about women."

The girl was infuriating. She was baiting him, and worse, he was falling for it. But it was a compulsion, like sticking your finger in the frosting of a cake or plotting world domination in your spare time. "And you’re bothering me about this why?"

She huffed at him. "You seriously don’t know? Are you blind?"

"Enlighten me." He was just barely holding on to a smile. The urge to stab her was rising, but he’d promised Sawada that he would behave as a condition of his release. Behaving meant not gutting the annoying girl.

"Women like to be with the people they care about," Haru told him as if it were a new revelation. "Especially on important days like holidays and birthdays. And festivals. But not necessarily on self-appreciation days, because those are for yourself." She nodded sagely. Mukuro decided to let that pass without question, not having participated in a self-appreciation day.

"And women really really want to be with the one person they love more than anything on their special day." She sighed a little and Mukuro knew she was thinking about Sawada again.

"It’s not her spe-" he tried to say.

Haru cut him off, completely ignoring the fact that he’d been speaking. "And Chrome loves you more than anything, so you should be with her."

Somehow that changed things. Words are powerful, as powerful as real magic. Mukuro had known that he was the most important thing in Chrome’s life, he’d molded her that way, but to hear someone else say it so plainly was a shock.

She loved him.

Chrome Dokuro, once his spare body and now all grown up into a beautiful and loyal woman, loved him, Rokudo Mukuro, ex-con and constant plotter of back-stabbings. A person valued so highly by her friends cared more about him than any other.

It was humbling, and Mukuro wasn’t quite sure he liked it. But Haru smiled like she knew what he was thinking. She was probably wrong, but she didn't let that stop her.

"Do you know what women like?" she asked, her hands clasped behind her back as she rocked on the balls of her feet, ready to dole out some more of her special brand of wisdom. "Women like romance. We like surprises. We like it when our loved ones come to see us, say, on our birthdays when we’re away from home."

She took one of his hands. "I’ll give you some good advice," she said. "Catch a plane to Italy and go to Chrome. Buy her flowers and candy and a special present. And then do something super romantic together!" She smiled so sweetly, Mukuro was tempted to forgive her for intruding on his relationship with Chrome.

When he didn't immediately respond, Haru launched into another diatribe on the virtues of spontaneity and romance. He shut her out, murmuring agreement and nodding at all the appropriate moments.

It was, after all, really good advice.

******

Ten hours later, he was boarding a plane that Haru had booked him a timely but overpriced ticket for. He planned on writing it off as a business expense later.

Sixteen hours after that, he was grumpy and jet-lagged and a cheerful Dino Cavallone picked him up personally, just to show off his new sports car. It was flashy and red and fast, just like all the others. Mukuro was only impressed by how quickly it got him to the hotel, because any more chattering by the over-friendly Cavallone would make him puncture his own eardrums.

By five pm Italian time, the flowers were delivered, the wine chilled, and the chocolates broken into because he just couldn't resist. Mukuro was showered and napping in the bed Chrome had slept in the night before. It only smelled like her because he'd used her shampoo, which disappointed him a bit before he fell into an exhausted slumber.

Her perfume and the somehow cool scent of her skin permeated his dreams, and he could hear Chrome's sweet soprano calling his name. He opened his eyes, languid but refreshed, and saw her leaning over him.

"Mukuro-sama," she said softly. "You're here."

"I am." He smiled and reached up to touch her hair. "Happy birthday."

She blinked, her eyebrow over her good eye arched, as he sat up. "It's not my birthday."

"I know," he laughed. "Nagi's birthday isn't until December. But I got some good advice about your 'special day' today." She still looked puzzled, but he laughed again, a soft "Kufufu" full of real emotion that wasn't his usual mockery.

"It's been ten years," Mukuro said fondly as he pulled her into his arms.

"Oh. Oh!" She relaxed against him. "That's right. Today is our anniversary. I thought of it a while ago, with Haru and Kyoko, but we're so busy here..." He stroked her hair, ruffling the part in the back where it had gotten too long to emulate his spiky pineapple crest, and she toyed with the buttons on his shirt. "I can't believe it's been that long since we met. Since you saved me," she whispered.

"My cute Chrome." He slid his fingers down her jaw and tilted her head up. She held her breath as if he might disappear and he almost laughed. She was too cute! He kissed her instead, more gentle than he'd ever done anything else in this lifetime.

"Mukuro-sama..."

"I mean it, for real this time. Happy birthday, Chrome Dokuro."