Antibody to the Virus
Prompt: Five Years Later
Character(s): Miura Haru/Rokudo Mukuro/Chrome Dokuro
Word Count: 3,023
Bonus Guidelines: Crack Pairing: Mukuro/Haru
Antibody to the Virus
It was just a dream.
But the lake that extended past the bank where she stood looked so real. The breeze that ruffled her nightgown seemed authentic too. The air was cold and made goose bumps break out over her exposed limbs.
Haru closed her eyes and willed it all away. She had never liked this place. She could never tell if it was a product of REM sleep, or his intrusion into her mind, until it was too late to wake up.
That was why she couldn’t help the way her body locked guardedly when she heard his footsteps behind her. He stepped into the circle of her personal space, a line he crossed with such ease that it might as well not have been a social standard. He cupped her shoulder and slowly dragged his hand down her arm to where her fist clenched. She resisted the urge to buck and throw him off.
That’s when she knew it wasn’t a dream, but his illusion in her mind.
In the dreams her own mind created she always kept him barricaded. The style and way differed like the stars, but made her just as unreachable to him.
That was why she deemed this his illusion. Because she could feel the heat of his body permeating through her clothes, warming her chilled skin.
The way his fingers forced open her fist made her feel like ice was blooming in her lungs, freezing her breath and cooling her blood. Haru swallowed heavily, feeling dainty and weak as he traced the pads of her fingers with the sharp points of his nails. Yet her skin drew in the heat he offered despite her opposing will.
He raised her hand to his lips. It was an awkward angle for her, uncomfortable in all sense, but she didn’t protest.
“Kufufu, is my dearest Haru cold?” he murmured into curve of her wrist.
Dearest he said, as if she mattered to him. But she knew it was all a joke. He must have known she hated the endearment, so he used it liberally.
“Haru is fine,” she said basely. “Why am I here?” She wouldn’t bring herself to remind him of the promise he had made her. He was never supposed to pull her into one of his illusions again. Chrome chan was their liaison for that reason.
“I need you,” he murmured into the frigid skin. “It takes priority over our little promise.”
Haru’s felt the muscles of her stomach contract with wariness. “Hahi? Chrome chan can’t do it?”
“Kufufu, only you my dearest,” he chortled, lowering her wrist back to her side. He did so with care and tenderness, as if she were fragile. It was such a contrast to her reality, and served her as a constant reminder of how two-sided and untrustworthy he could be.
In their dreams she was glass. He held her hands and petted her cheeks as if she were some cute animal. But outside, when her eyes opened, she was expected to be a medley of alloys. Strong like iron. Malleable like steel. But most importantly she was the expendable mix of zinc and copper, a penny that if dropped wouldn’t garner as much attention as the diamond he always wore tightly around his finger.
She wasn’t worth as much as Chrome chan.
Haru saw his relationships as connections he made on the basis of worth. That was why she didn’t trust his declarations that Chrome chan was precious. It was just that Chrome chan had her uses, the same way she herself did. It was probably why he saved her and placated her with kindness. Haru would have bet her entire costume collection that his show of affection to her friend was not entirely real.
If Tsuna san knew…
No. No. That was not an option, and she knew it. She had lost the right to say something five years ago when she agreed to join his little group of misfits. She became his extra body. But in return gained the leverage of being the waiting antibody to the dormant virus he was to Vongola.
Tsuna san trusted him for some reason. She trusted Tsuna san. Yet, she couldn’t leave it up to time to tell her if he was right to have done so or not. So when Rokudo Mukuro first meddled with her dreams she hastily jumped aboard, resolute in the idea that she would interfere with his plans to take Tsuna san’s body.
It’s was a frustrating and sometimes dangerous game. One that she played without Tsuna’s san knowledge and that she often felt she was losing at.
After all, the implication was that he made her such a deal because he would get her body out of it and was confident in that she wouldn’t be able to stop him when he turned against the mafia.
But that had been years ago. At fifteen she had panicked and offered her body without thinking. But at twenty she didn’t knowingly allow herself to be maneuvered by anything he said.
Still, she wondered what prompted him to choose her. What inclined him to approach her? It was a question he always kufufu’ed at and refused to answer.
“What do you need me to do?” she asked, crossing her arms and stepping away from him. A few footsteps into the cool water almost made her regret leaving the warmth he was emitting. She glanced back to see him watching her amusedly.
“There is someone I would like you to go see for me. I believe he would make a good addition to my little team. I’ll have Chrome send you the details, of course.”
They were all just extensions of him. Just pieces he moved around as if it were all a game. Just bodies he could take over and lackeys that followed his every whim.
She hated that he felt he could do what he wanted with them. Because of her friendship with Chrome chan, the silent camaraderie she had with Chikusa, and the noisy love-hate relationship she had with Ken. They were her friends and she didn’t like that he was using them.
Their loyalty also confused her. Chrome chan’s place especially troubled her. Haru had joined them so that she could trump his control when he decided to betray Tsuna san. Chrome chan was supposed to protect Tsuna san. Where would that leave her when it came to choosing sides? It was the only fight they ever been in and it left her feeling like he had all the cards in his hand.
She still didn’t know how to open Chrome chan’s eyes. She still had no substantial idea of how stop him.
“Then there was no reason to bring Haru here,” she bit out, wishing she could take it back when her voice broke angrily.
He laughed again and moved into her space once more. He lowered his lips to her ear and she fought against the need to run into the lake away from him. “You’re angry, dearest,” he noted. “What if I told you that I just wanted to see you?”
Her resolve cracked against the strain of the anxiety his proximity caused. She stepped farther into the water, the ripples breaking like miniature waves against her knees. She ignored his reason. It’s was a complete lie and an insult to her intelligence. She wasn’t Chrome chan, ready to believe his flattery.
“I want to wake up,” she demanded, closing her eyes tightly in hopes that for once he would just stop playing with her and let her open them to reality without a struggle.
He walked into the lake after her and wound one arm across her belly, pulling her flush against his chest. “Hahi!” she gasped, but didn’t open her eyes.
“Stay longer, dearest,” he said teasingly and she bit her tongue to fight the rising frustration.
“No. I want to go,” she practically growled, angry at herself and resolute in her efforts to keep her body from trying to curl back against him. She was so cold and her skin wanted nothing more than to drain his warmth.
She jerked suddenly. His lips had pressed against her cheek, burning against the cold that chilled her. “Wake then,” he murmured, his tone almost dispassionate, as if he were disappointed.
The dream, the illusion, dissipated at his control.
***
Haru yawned widely and pushed her arms back in an attempt to crack her spine. Riding a train was definitely not the most comfortable way to travel for her. She jumped a bit when her companion’s head suddenly fell on her shoulder.
“Chrome chan’s hair is getting long,” she murmured to herself. She was picking her up from the errand he had sent her on last week. It had been surprisingly pleasant, and she hoped she would continue to be sent to see Fran.
She yawned again, feeling extremely drowsy. Before she knew it she had fallen asleep.
***
She blinked and for a moment though she was drowning in blue. She blinked again rapidly, quickly assuaging that she was looking up at the sky. It was moving faintly, and she felt that the ground underneath her was also rocking steadily.
“Hahi?” she murmured, sitting up. Her mouth tightened when she recognized the lake. This time she was in the middle of it, sitting on a small boat. She traced the side with her hand, testing its solidity. There was still some hope that this was a dream, but the warmth of the sun and the sudden kufufu from her right brought that ship down hard.
She looked over and saw that he was also on a small boat, lying on his back with his arms crossed and cushioning his head. “My dearest Haru did well with Fran,” he commented. “I expected you to do better than Chrome, but you surpassed my expectations.”
“All Haru did was spend some time with him. He was already going to accept being your student. It’s not like Haru convinced him,” she interjected before he could continue.
His lips quirked into a small smile. “My dearest is so amusing,” he said in a pleased tone. “I’m sure Fran had some fun at your expense.”
Her cheeks flushed. “What did you want anyway?”
He glanced at her, smiling wryly before he sat up. They floated in silence for a minute. He watched her with an expression that made her think he was thinking of something curious. She stared over his shoulder and kept an eye on him peripherally.
“I need you again, of course,” he said. “It’s just that I’m not certain if I should send you in particular. But at the same time the fact that you aren’t a fighter will help you blend in more…”
Haru felt the familiar feeling of wariness circulate her system. “Haru will go,” she said. Every liaison he had, every move he made was important to her. She had no solid plan. But knowing how far his tail extended, and where it went at all times, would one day let her catch it and reel him back before he hurt the people that she loved.
He didn’t look surprised. “Then ask Chrome to give you your next mission when you wake,” he told her before lying back down on the boat. “I’ll just stay here. It’s much more enjoyable than my tank in vendicare.”
Haru froze and hastily tried to quell the pity that burst in her heart. Rokudo Mukuro deserved no pity in her book.
“Would my dearest like to stay a little longer?” he asked. Sometimes she wondered if he kept her just to have fun teasing her. His words annoyed her.
“Haru wants to wake up,” she refused. He sighed loudly and nodded slightly. The pity welled up again, especially when that bored, dispassionate look clouded his expression again.
“Bye,” she murmured before she closed her eyes, waiting to wake up.
***
“I’ll need to know the details of my next mission, Chrome chan,” she said when the girl woke up.
“Haru?” she murmured sleepily. Her expression grew somber and worried. “Mukuro sama has spoken with you…” She nodded and pulled up a briefcase and popped the latches open to extract a thin manila folder. “Everything Haru needs to know is in here. We’ll be getting off before our original destination and I will wait for you to finish.”
“That’s fine,” agreed Haru, rubbing at her eyes. “Do you know what it is?”
Chrome chan nodded. “Mukuro sama wouldn’t place you in danger unnecessarily,” she suddenly said, her voice a little high. Haru blinked. What was she trying to tell her? “Mukuro sama cares about you too…”
Haru frowned. “All he cares about is himself, Chrome chan. All we are to him are tools. If you really analyzed things you’d see I’m right.”
Chrome chan smiled at her, her lips curving in a shape that said she knew something Haru didn’t. “Mukuro sama is human too. Besides, although Haru san speaks badly of him…Haru san doesn’t really hate him.”
Her cheeks flushed. “I never said he wasn’t human, just self-absorbed,” she defended. “But just because I don’t hate him doesn’t mean I can trust him. He wants to hurt Tsuna san in the future, and Haru won’t stand by and see it happen.” That was sort of low. It implied that Chrome chan wouldn’t lift a finger. But it was true, wasn’t it?
Chrome chan sighed and stared hard at the manila folder before handing it over to her. She looked somewhat worried.
Haru nodded put their spat behind her and took her hand in hers, squeezing reassuringly. “Haru will be fine. Like always.”
Chrome chan really couldn’t fake a smile to save her life. “Like always,” she repeated.
***
Haru had found that she couldn’t really express how it felt for his soul to transmigrate into her body. It was as if the exact words didn’t exist in her vocabulary. The closest she had come to describing it was the way it felt to drink ice cold water when desperately thirsty. That sensation you get when you can feel it running down your throat and into your body, cooling everything in its wake and sending that chill as a tingle on the fingertips. It was refreshing.
Haru gasped as the chill of it coursed down her belly and pulled him in, closing her consciousness to make room for his.
***
Her eyes opened and then fluttered shut in a flurry of blinking. This time she had anticipated he would twist her sleep with his illusions.
She blinked again. This time she was by the bank of the river again, lying down on the piece of sandy shore. She sat up and jumped when she noticed him sitting beside her. He always had to surprise her, didn’t he?
“Haru doesn’t understand why you have to drag me here when I accomplished your mission perfectly. You wanted to test me, right?” she asked, shrugging.
He kufufu’ed . “Perhaps,” he offered. He eyed her curiously. “Why didn’t you tell Vindice that I was manipulating you? It was the perfect chance, with them so eager for you to say it.”
Haru swallowed, wondering what to say. He had sent her to Vendicare Prison under one of her cleverly made disguises. She had been under the alias of a computer technician from Vongola there to fix a bug in their systems. One that she had planted in the first place. Thanks to her infiltration she had gained a floor map of the facility and committed it to memory. But then she had been caught and interrogated. She wondered if that had been part of his plan too?
Haru would have probably been imprisoned had he not replaced her consciousness with his and made it look like he had possessed her body the entire time. When she woke all she had to was play dumb. She had been let go with the warning to keep quiet about it all. Not a word to Tsuna san. But she was good at that wasn’t she?
“Vindice can’t hold you,” she said honestly. “If Haru had blabbed then I would have thrown away the foothold I have on you.” She met his amused gaze dead on. “Haru won’t let you take Tsuna san’s body. Haru won’t let you destroy Vongola.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “My dearest Haru is so amusing. You passed my test perfectly.” He grinned.
Haru knew he kept them because they were useful. Whether that use manifested itself as unwavering fighting skills, loyalty, or love.
And in her case, for simple amusement. After the Vendicare fiasco she had thought long and hard and concluded that his need to be amused, his need to toy with people was the basis of the reason he chose her. She herself couldn’t deny that she was an easy target, in spite of losing some of her naivety over the years.
“But Haru doesn’t hate you,” she murmured softly, burying her feet in the sand. “So until you go bad Haru will stay. You’re the only one who finds Haru funny anyway,” she shrugged, raising an eyebrow at him.
He kufufu’ed to himself. “Indeed, my dearest is so amusing.”
They were all just game pieces that he moved as he pleased. Just bodies for him to occupy at his will. But they both knew that she wouldn’t always be a pawn in his hand. She would only stay so long as he didn’t raise a hand against Vongola.
But she knew one day he would, and Haru would be ready to step in his way when he did.
That’s how an antibody works. It latches on to the virus in an effort to defend the health of the body. She would stick to him to protect her family.
Until then, she would just have to keep amusing him. That was her worth after all.