streetwalkers | I got no one who will bring me a big umbrella;

[ Sometimes, on nights like these, when it's calm and quiet, and, for a lack of a better word, peaceful, Tsuna finds it most difficult to sleep. Perhaps there's an irony in this, he doesn't know, but it's with a resigned, restrained sort of energy he walks along the hallways of the base with, like the sole vigilante left awake in the house, left to pace the corridors and ensure the windows are barred.

Left to ascertain the safety of the lives in his hands.

And it's not entirely unusual, that on these night time strolls, he runs into one of his Guardians or another, perhaps out for a midnight jog, or a smoke, or even a glass of milk, so when he turns the corner, there's only mild surprise in his eyes when Mukuro first catches his eyes. ]

Shouldn't you be in bed?

[ Tsuna nearly winces at the proverbial parental phrase which falls from his lips unbidden. ]

[He's a little sluggish in straightening up and meeting Tsuna's eyes, though from the point of view of someone who didn't know him the difference would be insignificant. Tsuna is the last person Mukuro wanted to see -- he knows the boss can see past the flimsy illusions he's set, and frankly he's too drained to bolster them at the moment, with either power or raw will. But he smiles anyway, counting on his teasing attitude to make the contact brief and painless.]

Do you think so? But it's such a nice night for a walk~

[ Tsuna spots it- it only takes a split second to see through the ruse for what it is (he's always been best at it) and starts, crossing the space between them in an instant, hands making half lost gestures in the air that say, what happened, what's going on, are you okay? Words that fall noiselessly from Tsuna's lips at first, and Mukuro's a god damned mess- ]

Mukuro. [ He's reaching out with one hand, hovering, uncertain. ]

[Mukuro only brightens his smile, stepping deftly around Tsuna's outstretched arm, and making to continue the way he was going in the first place. If he's seen it already, well... there's no point in playing this game.]

Don't concern yourself. I'm just fine.

[ --he can't possibly think that Tsuna, of all people, will just let him wander off alone like that, can he? When it comes to Mukuro, he knows that it's a matter of giving the Mist Guardian breadth (which is why he doesn't let the questions go, just yet), but for something like this-

It's an entirely different story. ]

Don't lie. [ If Mukuro wasn't continuing to the hospital wing, now he is, because Tsuna's steering him that way. ] Come on, let's get you patched up.

[He flinches at the touch of Tsuna's hands, in a way he wouldn't have normally done. Of course, he attempts to smooth the sudden look of something-like-panic on his face, with quite a bit of success, and he laughs at himself for reacting in such a way in the first place. Now really, he'd held up quite well in Byakuran's presence, there was no reason to come apart at the seams now. Still, he's tense as he allows Tsuna to urge him towards medical help. He's not in any condition for a fight.]

I am perfectly capable of tending to my own wounds, you know.

[ Good- so far so good. Mukuro's not putting up a fight, and it both relieves Tsuna and worries him. It's sterile and quiet, again, in this wing, and Tsuna's already letting Mukuro go, fetching the first aid kit. He sets it aside. ]

Really? [ Tsuna gives the ripped, shirt turned bandages a droll look. ] I'm here, right? Let me do it.

[ It's with experienced gained over the years that Tsuna starts to peel away the first bits of fabric away, carefully, slowly. ]

[Mukuro resists the childish urge to make a face at being fretted over. It's not something he's used to, and it makes him intensely uncomfortable. But he's dead tired, and would probably not do a much better job given real materials to work with than he had without them. And really, it wouldn't do to have this body die or infection. So he simply raises an eyebrow, and shrugs, allowing Tsuna to remove the makeshift bandages and concentrating on not wincing when they pull at half-closed wounds.]

You know, most employers would delegate this sort of task.

I'm already up, so why wake someone else too? [ The truth is, in some way, this is his fault. Maybe Tsuna should have been there, somehow, anyhow, because this is his family, and if he could, he would protect them. Will. Tsuna grabs a warm, wet cloth at some point, dabs it against the bandages and works them off that one instead, eyes furrowed in concentration. ]

What happened? [ But there's a sickening feeling in his gut, one that tells him he already knows, because surely there are only a handful of people in this world who could reduce Mukuro, of all people to such a state. ]

I met an acquaintance. [He'll leave it at that -- Tsuna is smart enough, more that intuitive enough, to guess at the rest, to a point. Mukuro only hopes that Tsuna is too pure-minded to even suspect that anything besides a fight of a purely physical nature had happened.]

[ There's a falter, the briefest of any, and Tsuna carries on wrapping gauze over Mukuro's bruised torso, to keep those ribs in places at least for tonight, and he thinks- that maybe it's just a trick of the light and his eyes are deceiving him into thinking he could imagine the pale beginnings of a bruise in the shape of handprints.

What does he say? What does he do?

(i'm sorry, i should have been there, i should have protected you)

The ring weighs heavy on his finger, cold and smooth. ]

--don't. [ The words come clumsy through his lips. ] Next time, run. I don't care if you think- whatever it is. Mukuro--

[ For a moment, Tsuna sounds so very much more the frightened young man he is than the one he should be, and this scares him more than anything. ]

[He pauses for a moment, a little astounded. Considering the situation, it isn't Tsuna who should be frightened, shaken, and hurt. And seeing him that way just drives the fact that he cares in like a nail.

Mukuro does not want Tsuna to care, or at least he doesn't want to acknowledge it. Emotions like that are trapping, because it's so much easier to tell himself that he's not part of this "family", and that everything between them as individuals is just a game, peppered by rare moments of physical pleasure, when he isn't having fond emotions directed at him. He isn't used to being cared about, and by anything he could swear on it's downright painful, like salt in the wounds he's been carrying since he was a child.

His hands are only trembling just a little as he places them on Tsuna's face, tiling it up to lock gazes.]

I don't take orders. And you...

...Don't care so much.

[ Of course, it's been there all along, from the moment Tsuna defeated him so many years ago, and his constant pestering to Reborn (are they okay? are they?) to this, here and now. Tsuna's always cared far more than he should. It's his one constant failing grace, but subsequently his salvation. Funny, isn't it?

He takes a deep breath, and tells himself everything will work out, he's got everything under control. Everything will be all right. It's more difficult to grasp the composure instilled into him by Reborn than it should be. ]

What kind of person would I be if I didn't care? [ Tsuna looks away, at the lacerations and cuts and scrapes. ] I leave you alone for one day, and look what happens.

[ It's a feeble kind of joke, but he means every single word of what he says. ] Mukuro- just- don't do anything stupid anymore, okay?

[ Because, what will happen after he's gone? ]

You'd be a tougher person. [Mukuro frowns a bit, lets his hands fall from Tsuna's face, and pushes him away gently but firmly.]

Running wouldn't have been any better, anyway. Not from him.

[ There's too much he wants to say, but doesn't- can't. ]

It won't happen again. [ There's a resolve in his voice, firm, absolute. ] I won't let it.

That isn't for you to decide. [There's slight irritating colouring the exhaustion in his voice now. The last thing he wants is to be "protected". He refuses to acknowledge the kind of weakness that would require that, or to concede the task to the mafia, even Tsuna's mafia, if it were required.]

I'm not yours to protect.

No matter what. [ They've gone over this a thousand and one times, the results the same each time, with Mukuro persistent and Tsuna even more so, constantly engaged in this battle of wills. Mukuro should know what comes next, right? ]

From the minute you agreed- you were mine to protect.

But we can argue about it again some other time, okay? [ Tsuna's finishing off the rest of the bandages now, snipping them loose and taping them down firmly. ] You should get some rest, and maybe we'll get Ryohei-nii to fix those in the morning.

[He's tempted to argue anyway. But he bites his tongue, and instead just shoots Tsuna a look that says very clearly that he's displeased. But for an instant there was emotion warring on his face, before he clamped it down in reflexive horror at the fact that it had gotten out of his control even that much. But then, he supposes, he's going to have to face the emotional wounds from today eventually... but it can wait. Not while Tsuna's here to see it. Not where he'll say something he can't take back, and betray the part of him that wants to place the blame square on someone else's -- anyone else's shoulders, even if and maybe especially if that person is Tsuna. After all, if he didn't care like he does, so openly, perhaps Mukuro himself wouldn't seem like such an ideal target.]

...Fine.

[ Oh, so it's his fault now, is it- well, as a matter of fact, it really is. Sometimes, Tsuna wonders if his ideals for peace are what will kill them all in the first place, but it's too late to turn back now. All he can do now though, is smile, a little wistfully maybe, and pack things back up. ]

Walk you to your room?

[Oh, he knows it's a stretch to blame it on Tsuna, even though it isn't a major stretch. Still, it's just easier to have someone to resent that you can actually do something about. And even though he knows it's not fair, well, Mukuro has never been fair. So he'll start by giving the cold shoulder.

He gets up without making eye contact or returning the smile, and brushes past Tsuna with a distinctly dismissive attitude, gathering his frustration into energy to keep him upright and steady on his feet.]

That won't be necessary.

But you look like you're about to fall asleep standing. [ The sudden brusqueness doesn't take him by surprise as much as Mukuro might have intended. He's seen it before, and it's a familiar pattern. ]

[Well this time he doesn't pause to try and make up for his failure to throw Tsuna off right away. He just ignores him entirely and keeps walking. :|]

[ ~~You're limping~~. Tsuna stuffs his hands in his pockets, and walks alongside him, contemplative. ]

[Why so infuriating, Tsuna? Mukuro tries his best to ignore him, he really does. And under any other circumstances he'd be quite good at it. But as Tsuna learned many years ago, when under great amounts of pressure Mukuro can be a little, well... unstable. So it's with a somewhat shaky chuckle that he finally breaks the silence.]

You are far too good to be true, Sawada Tsunayoshi. And I think I see the flaw, now. You can't do anything, can you? You don't protect anything. You're just damage control.

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